Undertow
by polgara-5
Summary: When someone close to Buffy dies, she finds herself on Jack’s doorstep. Before long, events and emotions pull them into something greater than they ever imagined. BTVSStargate SG1 *COMPLETE*
1. Prologue

**Title:** Undertow

**By:** Polgara

**Rating: **R

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the recognizable characters. They belong to their respective creators and distributors.

**Spoilers:** Everything for Buffy is fair game. Everything up to and including season seven of Stargate SG-1. There will be very specific spoilers for season seven. You have been warned.

**Setting:** Takes place right after Homecoming of Stargate and three years after Chosen.

**Summary:** When someone close to Buffy dies, she finds herself on Jack's doorstep. Before long, events and emotions pull them into something greater than they ever imagined.

**A/N:** My author notes are here for a reason, please read. If you still ask questions that are answered here, I will not answer them again. Do not beg for updates, this fic will be updated every other Sunday like clockwork, nothing will change that. I repeat nothing.

**A/N2:** I've only altered canon slightly. Ignore the whole Jack/Sam thing, it doesn't exist here. And I've created a previous relationship between Buffy and Jack. It will get explained eventually, just be patient.

**A/N3:** Special and huge thanks to my betas – Meri and Copper. You gals are fabulous!

Prologue 

While a storm raged outside, the members of SG-1 were safe inside Jack's living room. Pizza boxes were strewn about as well as empty beer bottles. It was the first time they had had a chance to hang out together since Daniel's return.

Jack smiled into his beer; everything in his world was perfect. Well, not everything. His love life wasn't exactly in great shape, but that was through no real fault of his own. His life just wasn't compatible with the young woman who had captured his affections. Plus, he was twenty years her senior. It kind of put a crimp in any plans of pursuit.

Other than that tiny flaw, his world was perfect. Daniel was human again and most of his memory had returned. At least, enough that he had stopped calling him Jim. But his surrogate family was whole once again.

Sure, Jonas had been a good kid. He was bright, eager to please, and by the end had proven to be a valuable member of the team and the SGC. But it had never been the same. There had been a hole that only Daniel could fill.

His teammates' laughter washed over him as he took another swig of his beer. There was a knock at his door and he frowned as he checked his watch. It was after eleven, way too late for somebody to be dropping by for a courtesy visit.

He rose from his chair and crossed to the front door. He slowly opened it and was surprised at the drenched figure standing on his front step. "Buffy?"

"She's dead, Jack."

"Who? Who's dead?"

"Dawnie. My baby sister is dead."


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One 

Jack reached out and caught Buffy as she collapsed. Scooping her up into his arms, he carried her into the living room, kicking the door shut behind them. He sat back on his chair and held her in his lap. Ignoring his teammates, he rocked and soothed the sobbing woman in his arms. This was unusual behavior for her, but he couldn't ask her questions while the others were still there. He looked up at them and said, "Could you guys, uh…"

"Sure, sir," Sam said with a quick smile, concern and curiosity shining in her blue eyes. She knew they'd get an explanation later. "We'll see you on Monday."

Daniel and Teal'c murmured their goodbyes and headed towards the door. Jack snorted softly as he heard Daniel ask the others, "I know my memory is still a little spotty, but am I, are we supposed to know her."

"She is a stranger to us all, Daniel Jackson," came Teal'c's reply as he shut the door behind them.

Jack continued his efforts until she finally calmed somewhat. "What happened? A demon?"

"No," she sniffled.

"Vampire? Evil magic doer?"

"No."

He frowned. He thought he had covered all of the usual suspects that routinely captured the youngest Summers. "Then what?" He asked softly.

She let out a choked sob and snuggled closer. "It was a drunk driver. I thought I was prepared in case one day we got there too late, but not this. Not some stupid frat boy who didn't have the sense to not drive!"

He seriously doubted she would have been prepared either way. The death of a family member was just not something you could prepare for. He was also aware that Buffy's close relationship to Dawn was more than just the normal sisterly bond. Since the monks had created Dawn from Buffy, the slayer considered her to be a part of herself. Couple that with everything that the two had endured and you had a bond that was much stronger than most.

Buffy's body shook with renewed sobbing. Normally she hated showing this much weakness, but Jack never let her feel that that made her less of a person. Many times over the past eight years they had gone to each other for comfort, consolation, or support. It had almost been instinctual for her to head to Colorado Springs once the funeral was over. She had told no one that she was leaving, but had slipped out while they were busy with other things.

She and Jack had kept their friendship a secret. It was nice to have someone outside their inner circle to go to when you needed a break. He had never told her exactly what he did for a living and she had never pushed. However, he had learned her secret the day they had met.

This was the first time she had shown up unannounced, but she had had no spare time between the… incident and the funeral. She had only hoped that he would be home and alone. She supposed she should be thankful that she got at least one of the two.

"Did you bring anything with you?" Jack softly asked.

"Huh?" She asked, shifting to look up at him.

"Clothes. To change into." He smirked at her. "I don't know if you noticed, but it's raining out. You're wet so now I am. Just thought you'd like to change into something dry."

She yawned and then climbed off his lap. "A shower would be nice, too. My bag is outside… I think."

"You think?" He asked, standing up.

"Jack, I barely remember getting here, let alone where I dropped my bag when I did," she said, wiping the moisture off her face.

"Good point," he said. "You know where the bathroom is."

She nodded and headed off down the hallway.

He watched her disappear into the bathroom before letting out a huge sigh. This was going to be difficult to explain to his teammates, let alone what it was going to do to him.

Running a hand through his short, grey hair, he went to retrieve Buffy's bag. It only took a glance as he brought it in to know that everything in it was soaked. He threw the bag into the laundry room and then headed into his bedroom to see if he could find anything suitable for her to sleep in.

Jack cursed softly to himself as he rummaged through his drawers. Buffy was so small that everything he owned was going to be too big. He finally settled on an old dress shirt when he heard the shower shut off.

He rapped on the door and waited for her to crack it open. He handed her the shirt and said, "This should be long enough. I have to wash your clothes since they're wet. They'll be dry by morning."

"Okay," she said, taking the shirt and shutting the door.

When she emerged a few minutes later, Jack had to fight off the urge to grab her and kiss her senseless. Her hair was still damp from her shower and the hem of his shirt barely touched her knees. He could feel his body react so he quickly turned around and went into the guest room. He turned on the light and gave it a quick inspection. "Everything's ready in here. Do you need anything else?"

"No… Jack?"

"Yes," he said, turning around to face her. He kept his gaze strictly on her face and not on her slender legs extending below his shirt.

"I just want to… This is just so… Thank you," she finally choked out.

He could see the tears threatening to fall again and he took the few steps to close the distance between them. Taking her into his arms, he kissed the top of her head. It seemed strange to smell his shampoo in her hair. "Oh, Buffy," he murmured.

"I'm sorry," she said, her face buried in his chest. "I hate being like this, but I can't seem to help it."

"It's only natural," he said, rubbing soothing circles on the small of her back.

She relaxed at his touch and slid her arms around his waist. As always, it seemed that no matter how bad things were, Jack's embrace made her feel better.

"You should get some sleep," he said softly.

Buffy just nodded sleepily and slipped out of his arms. He moved to the door and then turned around, "Good night, Buffy."

"Night, Jack," she said from the bed.

He turned the light off and shut the door behind him. Suppressing a frustrated groan, he went to the laundry room to take care of Buffy's clothes. He hoped Buffy wasn't as picky as Sara had been about how the laundry was to be washed. He had always separated his laundry by clothes and towels, but Sara had a very detailed sorting system that he could never remember.

After loading the washing machine, he went back upstairs to check on his food supply. His kitchen rarely held more than the barest essentials since he spent so much time off world or on base. He had never been much of a cook anyways and he ordered out a majority of the time. A quick perusal of his cabinets and fridge proved his worst fear – he was going to have to go shopping.

He grabbed a beer and went back into the living room to watch TV until it was time to put the clothes in the dryer. Taking a drink of his beer, he realized that his living room was a mess, but decided to take care of it in the morning.

XXXXXXX 

Jack jerked awake. His heart racing, he listened for what had startled him. The noise of the television faded as he concentrated. Then he heard it – whimpering from the guest room. He realized that he must have fallen asleep as he got up to check on Buffy.

He cracked open her door and saw that she was caught in the throws of a nightmare. He quickly crossed the room, grabbed her shoulders and shook her awake. "Buffy! Snap out of it!"

Her eyes flew open and she looked wildly about the room.

"It's me, Jack. You're at my house," he reminded her and her eyes flew his face.

"Jack?"

"Yes, sweetheart. I'm here," he said, pulling her close.

"It's not fair," she cried.

"No, it's not," he murmured, recalling the last time they had had a similar conversation. He had flown to Buffy's the first weekend off after Daniel had died.

He grimaced. How was he going to explain that? He knew she was familiar with resurrections having been through it herself, but she was going to question this one. It wasn't everyday that a civilian consultant for the Air Force came back from being dead for over a year.

Crap.

She'd see right through any cover story he'd create. She would end up digging around and discover the truth. He could only hope that they'd never meet.

Then he felt guilty for worrying about his own problems and not her. He looked down and realized that she had fallen back asleep. He gently laid her back down and covered her back up.

He left her door cracked open so he could hear her in case she had another nightmare. He went to turn off the TV and put her clothes in the dryer. After he was done, he went to his bedroom and stripped down to his boxers. Making sure his door was slightly open as well, he wearily climbed into bed and fell asleep.

XXXXXXXX 

Buffy awoke the next morning to the smell of coffee and bacon frying. She rubbed her eyes and blearily looked at the clock. She always knew that Jack was a sadist. Eight was way too early to get up. She threw the blankets over her head to try and block the smell, but it didn't work.

Squinting her eyes against the bright sun, she stumbled her way to the kitchen. She mutely held out a hand until Jack put a mug of coffee into it. He chuckled as he watched her inhale deeply before taking the first sip.

She slid into a chair and continued drinking. She was touched that he remembered exactly how she liked it – sugary.

"Sorry about the meager fare," he said, once he was certain she had taken in enough caffeine. "This was all I had. We'll take a shopping trip later."

He was surprised when she stood back up and came over to hug him. Never passing on the chance to touch her in any way she'd permit, he hugged her back.

"Hi," she said, smiling sadly up at him.

"Hello," he said slowly, not sure what was going on.

"I just realized we kind of skipped this part last night."

"I'll forgive you, but don't let it happen again," he said with a grin. "I might ask for penance, like cake."

"'Cause cake is always good," she said, her smile almost reaching her eyes this time. She released him and went back to her seat.

A moment later, Jack set the bacon down on the table and sat in the other chair. He watched her nibble nervously and he knew she wanted to discuss something but was unsure where to start. He let her worry over it for several minutes before taking pity on her and spoke up. "So… What's up?"

Her hazel eyes lifted up to meet his brown ones. "It's okay for me to stay here?"

"Sure. You've done it before," he replied with a shrug.

"But what if it's for more than a weekend?"

"How long we talkin'?"

"A while," she said with an apologetic look. She caught the hesitation in his eyes and continued. "I can't stay in Cleveland now – not with so many reminders of her. I just need to be away so I can heal without my friends breathing down my neck. This is the only place I could think of, but if you don't…"

"You can stay," he said, interrupting her babble. He understood the deep need to get away for a while. "Do they know you're here?"

She shook her head. "They still don't know you exist. But I left a letter explaining everything and that I'd be back as soon as possible."

"Think they'll respect that?"

"I think so."

Jack picked up a piece of bacon and chewed on it as he thought a few things over. He was going to have to see about getting her clearance. There was no way she'd be able to stay for an indeterminate amount of time and not get curious. His life was almost as weird as hers and she'd see the signs no matter how hard he'd try to hide them. There had been many times in the past when he had been tempted to just tell her, but she always had enough problems of her own and he didn't want to burden her with more. Now wasn't the best time for her to learn either, but he wasn't seeing much of a choice.

Plus, it was going to be harder for him to hide his feelings from her this way. The random weekends and phone calls were easier. It was a finite amount of time and then they'd go their separate ways. This would be her being here all the time, for a long while. She would be sleeping just across the hall every night. That was even more worrisome than her finding out about the stargate.

"When you go back, this friendship will no longer be able to be our little secret anymore. You know that, right?" He asked.

"I know. If this is a problem I can leave…"

"No, I didn't say that. I just want you to be aware of _all_ of the consequences."

"I know." She sent him a rueful look. "Your friends from last night probably have a lot of questions about the crazy girl who showed up at your house."

"My team will definitely be curious, but they can wait." He gestured to the plate. "Eat and then go get ready. We have shopping to do."

"I'll need more clothes. I only packed the essentials."

"Do we have to?" He whined.

"Oh, yeah."

**XXXXXXXX **

After spending most of the day shopping, they ordered in some Chinese and popped in a movie. They snuggled on the couch after they finished eating and watched the movie.

Buffy barely saw the images flickering across the screen. She relaxed in Jack's arms, secure in her decision that coming here was the right thing. They had spent the day pleasantly; Jack had let Buffy set the pace. She had managed to only spend a small portion of it crying. Instead, she had regaled Jack with stories of some of Dawn's crazier antics over the years – some were false memories, but most were not.

When she was with Jack, no matter where their meeting place was, she felt like she was home. It wasn't what she had felt when her family had been whole, nor was it what the Scoobies evoked, but something entirely different. She wasn't about to examine the feeling too closely since her emotions were in turmoil, but allowed it to help ground her.

She had an inkling of what the cause was. Years prior she had realized that she was attracted to Jack. It was something she took great care to squash and repress. Their lives were just too incompatible. It had nothing to do with age. After dating two vampires that was obviously a moot point.

It was the nature of their lives that kept her from pursuing him. As the slayer, her responsibility was originally the hellmouth, and then creating and helping to run the Watcher's Council after Sunnydale collapsed. True, she was abandoning that responsibility for the moment, but she knew she'd go back once the pain had dissipated some. Jack was Air Force and had to go where they sent him. It wasn't fair to either of them to ask the other to give up their life.

Plus, she was fairly certain he wasn't attracted to her. Even if he was, she was pretty sure that the age difference _was_ a problem for him. So she contented herself with his friendship and was thankful for it.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two 

The rest of the weekend passed quietly. Jack was awakened every night by Buffy's cries and he would hold her until she fell back asleep. In the morning she would thank him with a shy smile and hug. Then they'd spend the day talking and watching TV.

Monday morning arrived all too quickly. Jack smiled as she waved bye as he backed out of his driveway to go to work. On his way he went over what he was going to say to Hammond. He knew that his sanity was at stake.

Once he arrived at the base, he went straight to General Hammond's office and shut the door behind him. "General."

"Jack? What seems to be the problem?" The bald man asked, taking in the other's slightly agitated demeanor.

"I need to ask a favor. A big one," Jack said, sitting down in one of the chairs.

"What kind of favor?"  
"I need for you to grant clearance to a civilian friend of mine."

"Colonel…"

"I know it's unusual, sir, but hear me out."

"Alright, Jack. Let's hear it," Hammond said.

Jack leaned forward until his elbows were resting on his knees. "She's going to be staying at my place for the next month or so while she works out some personal matters. My unusual comings and goings are going to raise suspicions and I know she won't rest until she learns the truth. And believe me, sir, if she wants to find out about this place nothing will be able to stop her."

"Why would you allow someone like that to stay with you?"

"Because she is a close friend. We've always been there for each other, I can't let her down. No, I take that back. I refuse to let her down."

"Then I'll ground you for the duration of her stay," Hammond said.

"General, you know you can't do that. Not with Anubis out there. You need me and my team on the frontline," Jack said, standing up.

"Jack, you have to understand that this is a highly unusual request. I can't grant her access without a damn good reason, and so far you haven't provided one that I can't circumvent."

"She's been granted access to another project before. I don't know which one, she wouldn't tell me," Jack said, pacing in the small office. "She could be an asset while she's here. I know her and she's going to be bored in a week, but still won't be ready to go home."

Hammond sighed. "An asset?"

"Yes, sir," Jack said, stilling his movements. "Trust me when I tell you that she'll take all of this in stride. Won't faze her a bit."

"Just who is she?" Hammond asked, slightly curious now despite himself. Jack rarely talked about others like this, especially one from his past.

"Buffy Summers."

"Her name doesn't ring a bell."

"I'm not surprised. But we could use her here." Jack grinned. "I believe there's an opening on SG-13."

"Colonel Dixon's team? I don't know, Jack."

Jack pressed the heel of his hand into his eye. "Can you at least get the clearance and meet her?"

"I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, sir. You won't regret this."

XXXXXXXX

Jack smiled to himself as he headed to his favorite hiding place on the base – his office. He rarely spent time there so it was always the last place that anyone looked for him. It wasn't that he was in the mood to hide per se, but more of an avoidance of his team. He knew that they were going to have questions about who Buffy was and how she knew him, and he wasn't entirely sure how to answer those questions.

She had been a private part of his life for so long that he hated to lose it now. Their relationship was rather complex and he wasn't sure if his team would understand. Oh, they'd support him for sure and would make every effort to be her friend, but they'd never fully appreciate how much she had done to help him keep his sanity and vice versa.

Not to mention Buffy was unusual in her own right. On the surface she appeared to be a normal twenty-five year old, but her years as a slayer had turned her into a hardened veteran on the inside. Most people never really got her.

He grabbed a notepad and sat down, propping his feet up on his desk. His thoughts were definitely lighter than earlier that morning. If Buffy joined the SGC, it would serve several purposes.

He had told Hammond the truth about Buffy. She was a woman of action and with nothing to keep her company during the day but her grief, she would get restless. A place at the SGC would provide a distraction and something useful to do while she worked through this.

Since she would finally be privy to his job, he would finally be able to tell her everything. He'd be able to tell the truth about Daniel's absence and his return. He could only hope that she received the clearance before his team met her so he wouldn't have to lie first.

There was another upside to this. There was a strong possibility that the temporary appointment would tempt her into a more permanent position. She was not anymore suited for a desk job than he was. The slayer was a creature of action and Buffy had spent seven years on the frontline. He knew that he position in the Watcher's Council caused her to spend less and less time in the field. She had confided in him only a few weeks earlier that she sort of missed the old days. And if she stayed it meant that he had the chance to form a romantic relationship with her. Not that he'd try anything now, that would be just downright rude. But later, after her heart had a chance to heal. Maybe then.

His office door opened and he smiled innocently as his team entered and shut the door behind them. "Hey, guys."

"Told you he'd be here," Daniel said smugly to Sam and Teal'c. He sent a smirk towards Jack. "You're going to have to find a new hiding spot."

"Gees, Daniel. Only took you six years," Jack said, doodling on the notepad that rested on his legs.

"So?" Sam asked, curiosity burning in her eyes.

"So what, Carter?" He asked, never looking up.

"Who is she?"

"Who is who?"

"I believe Major Carter refers to the distressed woman who arrived unexpectedly on Friday night," Teal'c said, effectively ending Jack and Sam's banter.

"She's just an old friend," Jack said with a shrug, his attention firmly on the dog he was drawing.

"How old?" Sam asked.

"Knew her from before… before Charlie…"

"What's her name?" Daniel asked, switching the line of questioning slightly. He knew that the subject of Charlie was still a sore spot for his friend.

"Buffy Summers," Jack said with a small smile.

"You're joking, right?"

"Nope. Sorry, Daniel."

"How did you meet?" Sam asked. It was rare that Jack was willing to speak about anything in his past and she and the others were taking full advantage of it.

Jack's smile faded slightly. This was one of those questions he was not going to be able to answer honestly. Really, how was he supposed to explain to them that she had saved him from a vampire when she was only seventeen? There were way too many problems with that statement. So he gave them the next best thing – a half-truth. "We were both in L.A., random meeting, and we've just kept in touch over the years."

Daniel sensed that Jack wasn't going to speak anymore than that on it. He respected his friend's privacy and changed the topic again. "What was wrong on Friday? She seemed to be very upset."

"Her baby sister had been killed in a car wreck," Jack said, putting the finishing touches on the dog. "They had been very close since Buffy had been raising her since their mother died five years ago."

"That's awful," Sam said, knowing how hard it was to lose a parent. "How old was the sister?"

"Dawn was nineteen." He paused in his drawing to rub his eyes. "Buffy will be staying with me for a while."

"Is there anyway we may provide assistance?"

"Not at the moment, T. But maybe you guys could come over for dinner later in the week? It'll be good for her."

"Sure, sir," Sam said, moving to the door. "I've got to get back to the lab." She was still curious, but she was hoping to get more info out of Buffy when they had dinner.

With a slight inclination of his head, Teal'c followed her out, leaving Daniel alone with Jack. It was several long moments before Daniel asked, "How come you've never mentioned her before?"

Jack sighed and looked up at him. "It's complicated."

"Try me," Daniel said, giving no indication that he was going to back down from this. In fact, there was a stubborn set to his jaw clearly saying he wasn't leaving until he got a satisfactory answer.

"If it's any consolation, her friends still don't know that I exist," Jack said, stalling.

"Won't they worry?"

"A little, but she left a note explaining that she'd be back when she was ready."

"That doesn't explain why you didn't tell us," Daniel said. "I thought we were friends."

"We are. It's just… Buffy and I have complicated lives and it was kind of nice to have someone out there who didn't depend on you or expect certain behavior. We could vent to each other, give or receive comfort, find a grounding. We never told anyone because we were selfish about it."

Daniel smiled softly. "I think I understand. So how often do you visit or even talk?"

"We talk once a month, if possible. The visits are harder to arrange. Those were usually reserved for big events," Jack said, drawing a person with the dog.

"And the last visit?"

"Was after you died."

"Uh, Jack. How are you going to explain me?"

"Haven't figured that part out yet, Danny-boy. But I'll let you know when I do."

XXXXXXXX

Buffy heard Jack's truck pull into the driveway as she finished setting the table. She headed back into the kitchen to drain the spaghetti. The front door opened and she could hear him enter.

"Buffy!"

"In the kitchen!"

"Something smells good," he said, entering the room. "You didn't have to do this."

"I know, but I couldn't do nothing. Besides, I was hungry," she confessed with an impish grin. She thrust a large salad bowl into his hands. "Here, put this on the table. Oh, and get the bread, too."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, giving her a mock salute.

"Keep it up and you won't get anything to eat."

He grumbled good-naturedly into the dining room. A few minutes later she entered carrying the spaghetti and sauce. She frowned and said, "I think I overdid the portions. I've lived with the Scoobies for so long that I don't know how to cook for two."

"Just means leftovers for tomorrow," he said, fixing his plate. "My team wants to meet you so I suggested dinner later in the week."

"Sounds fine. I'm just surprised they would want to."

"They didn't say it in so many words, but I figured it would be easier than answering all of their questions."

"What did you tell them?"

"Not much," he assured her. "Your name, why you were here, an edited version of how we met."

She nodded her head and began eating.

Jack spent the meal reveling in the simple domesticity of it. The whole situation felt… right. Not that he wanted her to stay at home all day and have dinner waiting for him. It was the sharing of a home-cooked meal, however simple the fare, and the simple talk of inane events. He would probably have gotten the same feeling if he had done the cooking.

XXXXXXXX

The next morning, Buffy blinked as sunlight entered her room. Without her usual night activities and a normal bedtime, she nearly always woke with the rising of the sun, fully rested. It had been the first night since the… accident that her sleep hadn't been plagued with nightmares. She was sure that Jack would be thankful for it. He had been there for her every time the previous three nights.

She concentrated and heard Jack moving around. Deciding to go ahead and get up before Jack tempted her with food again, she rolled out of bed. The one problem she always had with him – he kept trying to get her to eat. He kept thinking that she needed to eat as much as he did and that seemed like all the time. Really, she was good with just one meal a day and the occasional snacking.

Buffy wiped the sleep out of her eyes as she opened the door. Consequently she didn't know anyone was there until she ran into him or her. "Sorry, Jack," she murmured. However, her attitude changed when her eyes were open and she could clearly see whom she had bumped into.

The slayer grabbed the stranger by the throat and shoved him against the wall. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"It's me, Buffy."

"Huh? I don't know you."

"Jack. It's me, Jack," he said, pulling futilely at the hands holding him.

Her eyes narrowed as they swept over the obvious teenage body. "Funny kid, pull the other one. Who are you?"

"I'm Jack O'Neill."

"I hate to tell you, but your cover sucks. Jack is a bit older than you and waay better looking."

The boy looked surprised and then a familiar half-grin appeared on his face. "You think I'm good-looking?"

"So not the issue here," she said, and looked like she'd say more, but stopped. She studied his eyes for a long moment and then let out a small gasp of recognition. "Jack?"

"Yes! Me! Can you let me go? Your slayer strength makes it hard to breathe."

She released him, but stayed close. "How?"

"I don't know. I just woke up like this," Jack said, gesturing to himself. His adult-sized clothes hung loosely on his smaller, teenage frame. "Hey, this isn't funny!"

"But you're so cute!" She said between her giggles.

"I don't want to be cute, I want to be me!" He yelled, clearly upset with the situation.

"Sorry," she said, unsuccessfully hiding her laughter.

"No you're not," he shot back. He ran a restless hand through his now brown hair. "Could magic do this?"

"Probably," she said, calming down from the initial shock.

"Are you sure nobody knows you're here?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just thinking this could have been meant for you or a way to incapacitate your good-looking friend."

"I have one of those?" She glibly asked.

He glared at her. "Well, could there be someone out there to do this?"

"I'll have to do some research, which will be hard enough. I've never had to do this alone before. But Willow has a database online that I can look through. Where's your computer?" She asked, sliding easily into research mode.

"Office," he said heading to his bedroom.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting ready for work."

"You can't go."

"And why, pray tell, not?" He asked.

"You are in a sixteen year old body. I think they'll notice."

"Ya think?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I think you should stay home until we fix this."

"I can't. If I don't show up, they'll get suspicious and come here to investigate. I can't call off because I never do that. The worst that will happen is they'll throw me in a cell until I convince them who I am."

"You can't do that!"

"Why?"

"I don't think the military would believe you no matter what," she said in exasperation. "_This_ is not normal."

"It's more normal than you'd think," he shot back without thinking.

She froze. "What does that mean?"

"I can't tell you."

Her eyes grew frosty. "Fine, but if they shoot you on sight, don't blame me." Then she stomped down the hall and slammed the door to his office.

Jack sighed and cursed whoever had done this to him. He knew Buffy needed time to cool off so he went to change.


	4. Chapter Three

**A/N:** Just because I'm using Fragile Balance in this fic, do not expect a word for word accounting of what happened in that episode. Only scenes that directly affect Buffy will be written.

**A/N2:** If you want me to reply to your review, please remember to sign in. I can't reply to anonymous reviews. :)

**Chapter Three**

Buffy growled in frustration at the computer screen. When she went home to Cleveland later, she owed Willow lots of mochaccinos. She had never truly appreciated Willow's computer talents until now. Even doing a simple search through their database was eluding her.

She never knew there were so many ways to magically reverse someone's age and she wondered why nobody had employed them before now. Although, all of the nasty side effects were probably huge deterrents. The problem with all of her findings was that the spells were to be performed on the caster. Which meant if there was a spell to be cast on someone else, it was not in their database.

Deciding to take a break, she got up and stretched. She wondered how Jack was faring at work. The fact that he was sure that his people wouldn't freak had her a little curious. She was beginning to think that she should have investigated him back when he had come out of retirement to do whatever it was that he did. But she respected his privacy and his loyalty to his job too much to actually go through with it. Of course, it would have meant revealing her friendship with him to Willow, the only person she knew capable of hacking into top secret programs.

And speaking of research, she had probably better get back to Jack's current problem.

XXXXXXXX

The still young Jack O'Neill sat slumped in the back of Daniel's Jeep. It had been exhausting to continually try and convince everyone that he was who he said he was. They had finally believed him after running a DNA test.

Now he was about to endure another torturous task. They wanted to run tests and investigate his home. Which meant he had to introduce his team to Buffy, and then somehow stave off her curiosity about their presence and what sort of things they were going to be looking for. He could always tell her the truth about the last part, which was he didn't know himself.

Daniel parked his Jeep and they all got out. Jack stopped them before they reached the door. "Umm, guys, maybe you should let me go in and warn Buffy." His team looked at him in confusion and he rolled his eyes. "She can get jumpy if you surprise her. I don't want any of you to get hurt."

"Buffy Summers did not appear to be a threat," Teal'c said, his head tilted slightly. "Why would you fear for our safety?"

"Trust me on this. There's more to her than what meets the eye. Just let me prepare her for you."

"Go ahead, sir," Sam said, just as perplexed about whom Buffy really was as the others.

"Be right back," he said with a grin. He opened the door and went towards his office. "Hey, Buffy!"

"Jack! You're home," she said in surprise, meeting him in the hallway. "Still little you, huh?"

"For the moment," he said with a grimace. "Uh, my team is here to look over the house. I just wanted to warn you so you didn't attack."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she said dryly.

He ignored her and said, "I told them to wait in the Jeep until I had warned you."

"What did you say to convince them?"

"That you were jumpy and I didn't want them to get hurt," he said simply.

"Oh that's good, Jack. Now they think I'm some sort of psycho who attacks people without reason. Not to mention I don't look like I could hurt most people, let alone trained military officers. Way to make them suspicious. Does secret identity girl mean nothing to you?" She asked sourly.

His eyes lost their humor. "That was uncalled for. I had only meant that you had been through a lot in the past few weeks."

"Sorry, it's just been a long day," she said, rubbing her bleary eyes.

"Found nothing?"

"A big fat zip."

"Don't worry, we'll figure this out," he said wearily. "Let me go get the others."

Buffy tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and made her way to the front door. She carefully studied the three people following Jack into his house. Based on Jack's previous descriptions of them she could easily guess who everyone was. The tall blonde woman was Major Samantha Carter, the large black man was probably Teal'c, and the last guy had to be Jonas, the newest addition to his team. She frowned slightly and looked back at Teal'c. Something felt… off about him.

"Buffy, this is Carter, Teal'c…"

"Jack."

"What?"

She squinted her eyes slightly and then flicked them briefly at Teal'c. He frowned and gave her an almost imperceptible shake of his head. She repeated the gesture and this time he smirked at her. An elegantly shaped eyebrow arched at him and he merely shrugged.

"Sir," Sam said hesitantly.

"It's okay, Carter. Just a _friendly_ little chat," he said in a tone that clearly suggested for her to drop the matter. He braced himself for the final introduction. "And this is Daniel Jackson."

"What happened to Jonas?" She asked in surprise.

"He went back home."

"Oh, okay… Wait a minute. Weren't you dead?" She asked Daniel.

"Would you believe that it was an exaggerated rumor?" He asked hopefully.

"If I was back home, I'd say yes. But since I'm not, I'll ask what the hell is going on?"

"Buffy, he just… well he…"

"Jack! You told me that you had watched him die in the infirmary. It's not like he went missing and you just thought he was dead," she argued.

"I can't tell," he said.

"Jack."

"Buffy."

"Jack!"

"I have two words for you, Summers – Secret Indentity."

She glared at him and ground out between clenched teeth, "Fine. Where do you want to start?"

"How about with what you ate for dinner last night?" Sam suggested, heading towards the kitchen.

"Won't show anything," Buffy said, causing the Major to stop and turn around to face her.

"Why not?"

"We ate the same food," Buffy replied. "I just fixed some spaghetti, salad, and toasted garlic bread. If it was the food I'd be younger, too."

"You fixed the dinner?" Carter asked, her voice laced with slight suspicion.

"Carter, she was alone with me all weekend. Why would she wait until last night to try anything?" Jack asked in exasperation.

"Sorry, Buffy."

"'S okay. Not knowing me, I would have suspected me, too," she said with a smile. Her eyes kept flicking over to Teal'c.

Sam looked over at Jack. "Where was the last time you remember being… older?"

He shrugged. "When I went to bed."

"Must have happened while you were asleep," Daniel deduced.

Buffy lagged behind as the other filed into Jack's bedroom. She leaned on the doorframe and watched as they moved about. It bothered her that Jack blew off her warning about Teal'c. He didn't feel like a demon or even evil, just different. Jack suggested that he already knew and was cool with it. She trusted Jack and she knew he trusted Teal'c, but without knowing why Teal'c bothered her, she couldn't get her inner slayer to relax.

She drifted out of her thoughts in time to hear Sam ask, "Are you sure, sir?"

"Positive."

"Then we need to head back to the base," Sam said. "There's nothing more for us here."

"Fine. Just let me talk to Buffy first," he said.

Teal'c stopped next to Buffy and bowed his head. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Buffy Summers."

"You, too," she said, trying to smile.

Sam and Daniel both smiled at her and said goodbye as they walked passed.

"You can stop your research," he told her. "We know what caused this, we just don't know why yet."

"I kind of zoned for a minute there, what happened?"

"It's classified," he said with a sigh.

"Damn it, Jack! How can I help you if you won't tell me anything?"

"You're not here to help me, you're here for you," he reminded her gently. "Don't worry about me. Carter will fix this."

"What are you mixed up in?"

"I wish I could tell you, but I can't. Maybe one day I'll be able to explain this to you, but until then…"

"And what's up with Teal'c?"

"I can't tell you that either."

She began pacing in his bedroom. "This isn't fair, Jack. You know my secret. It didn't bother me not knowing yours before, but now that I'm here and it could affect me… It makes my spidey-sense go wacky."

Jack stepped in her path and wrapped his arms around her. "I know."

"I hate to say this, but this just feels weird," she admitted. "I mean, you smell like you, and the arms are still good for the holding, but it's…"

"Weird, I know. Just think how this feels for me," he said, suddenly thankful that she was there for him.

"Ugh, I can only imagine," she said.

XXXXXXXX

The next several days passed very slowly for Buffy. Jack was forced to remain on base until they figured out how to reverse his de-aging. That meant Buffy had been left all alone at his house and with no means of transportation.

She spent the days roaming his house and watching his Simpson collection. Her thoughts kept straying to her now dead sister and that no matter how hard she had tried to protect her, she died anyways. She supposed that she should have been grateful for what time she had had with her, but it was hard.

The monks had entrusted Dawn's care and safety to her and she had failed. Well, not really. She had kept her safe from Glory, and that had been their original intent. But she had felt it deeper than that and her senseless death affected her accordingly.

On top of all of that, she was worried about Jack. During their nightly phone calls, he had confessed that there was another problem – he was dying. Something was wrong with the cells in his body and he wasn't sure how much time he had left. He didn't sound too concerned, but she knew differently. It wasn't fair to him that his life should end this way. He deserved better.

She sat on his sofa, mired in her dark thoughts and worry. She was heedless of the darkening sky outside as she waited for good news.

XXXXXXXX

Jack paced nervously inside his room on the base. The entire situation sucked. First, he woke up in a decidedly teenage body. While at times he wished he were younger so he could have a chance with Buffy, this was definitely _not_ what he had in mind. Then to find out that their supposed friends, the Asgard, were the ones responsible for this. And if that wasn't enough, he was dying on top of all of that.

Life sucked.

He knew that the Tok'ra meant well with putting him stasis until they figured out what was wrong and how to fix it, but his last experience with them didn't leave him all trust-having. He trusted Jacob, and Selmak wasn't bad for a snake. It was the others that he had problems with.

If he took the Tok'ra up on their offer it meant that Buffy would never know the true reason for his disappearance when she needed him the most. This situation wasn't exactly fair to her either.

Running a hand through his hair, Jack made a decision. He was going to tell Buffy the truth about everything. He'd rather die that way than for her to lose him in ignorance. She had been through too much to not know the truth.

A plan formed quickly in his head. He hid behind the door and called in the SF that was waiting outside the door. When he entered, the young O'Neill knocked him out from behind. He left the room and shut the door behind him. He moved easily down the hall, trying not to draw attention to himself. As he reached the elevator, he heard Sam's voice over the intercom announcing his escape. He swiped his security card and slipped onto the elevator. Running feet could be heard approaching as the doors slid shut.

The elevator stopped after going up several floors. Peering carefully out, he could see the coast was clear. He climbed into a vent shaft and began crawling. After what seemed like forever, he opened another grate as the hall grew silent again. He walked the few feet to the door that opened to the shaft to the surface. He knew that once out, he could easily hitch a ride into town.

XXXXXXXX

Jack ran into his house to see Buffy sitting in his living room. "Pack a couple of things and call for a cab," he told her, heading back towards his bedroom.

Buffy jumped up and followed him. "Jack, what is…"

"No time to talk, I'll explain later. Hurry!"

She sent him a strange look, but made the phone call and went to pack. Fifteen minutes later they climbed into a taxi with their bags and Jack's fishing gear. He gave the driver the address and they were off.

"Jack?"

"Just a little longer, I promise."

A short while later they were dropped off at the local car rental. Buffy went in, paid for the car, and then they were on the road again.

Since they were alone, Buffy looked over at Jack who was driving and asked, "What's going on?"

"I sort of went AWOL."

"What!"

"Things were getting worse and I decided that if I was going to die, it was not going to be on that base. I needed to get out and I knew they would never let me. So I snuck out."

"Jack, you're going to be in huge trouble when they catch you. And me! I'm aiding and abetting here!"

"I'd have to be alive when they catch me."

Tears welled up in her hazel eyes and she quickly looked away. "That's not funny. I just lost Dawn, I don't think I could handle losing you, too."

"I'm sorry. It's just that this is so damn frustrating," he said, risking a glance at her before turning his gaze back to the road. "There's something that a friend might be able to do to help me, but it would mean I'd be gone for a long time."

"So do it."

"Not until I explained a few things to you."

"Like what?" She asked, wiping the moisture from her eyes.

"Let's get to my fishing hole first. This will take a while."

"You mean you got permission?"

He grinned. "No, but I'm gonna tell you anyway."

They rode in silence as they headed out of Colorado Springs to one of the smaller outlying towns. Jack stopped once to buy some bait and then they entered the surrounding forest. He pulled the car off the dirt road and they got out. He led her on a narrow path to a stream.

Once they were settled, Buffy took the opportunity to say, "I can't believe you wanted me to buy you beer. You're in a teenage body, that's just wrong."

"That's the only problem I've ever had with you, Buffy. Your aversion to beer."

"Yeah, well beer bad. You'd think so too if you had gone all cavewoman."  
He smiled over at her as he cast his line. "Been there, actually. Not the woman part, but I've gone Neanderthal."

"You have not," she said with a laugh.

"Have too," he said, suddenly serious.

She sobered. "Jack… What's going on?"

"Well, it all started in Egypt…"


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Buffy sat on a large rock next to a stream. Jack had just finished telling her about his job. If her own life hadn't been filled with just as strange events she probably would have thought he was a crackpot. But as he explained, so much about him suddenly made sense.

His sudden, and sometimes long, disappearances were because of being captured or trapped off world. His strange injuries were caused by alien weapons. Daniel's resurrection was because he retook human form after being an ascended being for a year, but he didn't retain his memories from that time. Even Jack's current condition was the result of some strange Asgard alien incident.

Even though she was thankful to finally know everything, she knew his situation must be dire for him to be that forthcoming. Jack was never one to talk about his feelings, but today he answered every question she had asked and even volunteered things. It was that that scared her more than anything.

She had to figure out how to convince him to go back and let those Torque people help him. She had meant what she told him in the car. This was way too soon for her to lose someone important to her after Dawn. It didn't matter if she had to drag him back kicking and screaming, he was going.

However, she didn't think she'd have to resort to such measures because she could hear several people approaching. She assumed his team had found him.

Jack must have heard them too since he called out without looking behind him, "Unless you brought beer, that's close enough."

"Buffy wouldn't buy it for you either?" Daniel asked.

"No, she's got this thing against beer," Jack said with a snort.

"Colonel, we need you to come back with us," Sam said.

"Tell Jacob thanks for trying, but I'm not interested in the deep-freeze deal."

"Sir, we need to talk to you… Privately."

"Carter, you can tell me from there."

"Sir."  
"I told Buffy everything."

"Jack," Daniel said slowly. "Are you sure that was wise?"

"I haven't freaked yet," Buffy said. "It takes a lot to shock me these days. Aliens and space travel are nothing."

The group looked at her in surprise. She seemed to be taking everything too calmly. It just upped their curiosity about her.

Daniel recovered first. "We're not here to take you to the Tok'ra. There may not be much time."  
"There never is," Jack muttered to Buffy, knowing she'd hear him.

"Ok, well…" The archaeologist sighed. "There's not easy way to tell you this so… Sam's just gonna come right out and say it."

Buffy could almost hear Sam shoot Daniel an unamused look.

"Well, sir.. As you know, the Asgard depend on cloning technology…"

"Oh, for cryin' out loud," Jack exclaimed. He looked over at Buffy and said, "See what I have to put up with?"

"Oh, you poor baby," she said with false pity.

"You have been cloned, O'Neill," Teal'c said bluntly.

Both Buffy and Jack whirled around to look at them. "What?" Jack cried.

"We think the Asgard took the real you and made a copy. An unstable one at that," Daniel explained.

"The real me?"

"Yeah… the original. That's not your real anything. I'm… I'm sorry."

"That's a new one, even for me," Buffy said softly, looking at Jack. "Unless you count the First."

"Could this day get any worse?" Jack asked her. He looked back up at his team. "Where's the original?"

"That's what we hope to find out. But we need your help," Sam said.

XXXXXXXX

"Buffy, meet General George Hammond. General, this is Buffy," Jack said as they entered the briefing room.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Summers," a bald man said with a slight Texan accent.

She knew that Jack held this man in high regards so she tried her best to be polite. "Same here."

"I'm pleased to inform you that you have been cleared for everything on this base. You have some powerful friends, Miss Summers."

"Huh?"

"Sweet," Jack said with a grin. "When did it come through?"

"During those ten minutes I gave you to think over the Tok'ra's offer."

"Sorry about that, sir," Jack said sincerely. "I just…"

"I understand, son. Shall we get on with the briefing?"

Buffy saw the kindly, understanding gleam in the General's eyes and decided then and there that she liked him. He seemed to care about the people under his command. It was not the same type of behavior she had seen during her brief stint with the Initiative.

She took a seat between Jack and Sam, across from Daniel and Teal'c. Now that she knew that Teal'c was a Jaffa, and even though he no longer carried a symbiote, he was still different enough to register on her senses. But knowing his background allowed for the slayer in her to settle and accept him.

Daniel began the explanation of what they believed had happened. "We think the Asgard took the real you and replaced you with a clone. Obviously they meant for you to be full-grown and not a teenager so as not to arouse suspicion. According to the people we interviewed who've had a similar experience, we think they'll try and switch you back."  
"We want you to go home and act like nothing has happened. Then we'll intercept the beam when they make the switch," Sam finished. "We'll be able to solve this."

"What about the fact that this body is dying? I mean, has anyone even thought about that for a second?"

Buffy reached over and gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

"We just…" Sam began before deciding to say something else. "We don't know what else to do for you."

"Perhaps the Asgard responsible can correct his mistake," Teal'c suggested.

"Fine. Give me a 9-mil, I'll get it outta the sucker."  
Buffy rolled her eyes. "What is it with you and guns? This could be some random bad Asgard. They're still your allies."

"She's right," Daniel said. "We don't know who or what we might be facing yet."

"Exactly why you can't just use me as bait and hang me out to dry. You're never gonna intercept one of those Asgard beams. The only chance you have of capturing this guy is me."

"He's got a point," Buffy said, sending them incredulous looks. "I've never used someone as bait without making sure they had someway of defending themselves. That's just smart tactics."

Sam couldn't stop the retort from coming out of her mouth. "And what would you know about tactics?"

Buffy turned and regarded her darkly. "I know a hell of a lot more than what you think. You know _intellectually_ that this is Jack, but you're letting his current body fool you into thinking he's a child. He's no more a kid than I am, or the General. You insult him by treating him like this."

Jack laid a hand on her arm. "Buffy…"

"No, Jack," she said, turning her gaze on him. "The thing you stressed to me was how your team was like a family and that you trusted each other. This is not trust."

Sam was taken back by Buffy's ferocity. She had seen something in the younger woman's eyes that had shocked her. There had been darkness and pain in her past and it was a look she had seen in the Colonel and Teal'c's eyes in extremely rare, vulnerable moments. Jack seemed to trust her with his life and secrets so she would do no less.

"You can have a zat gun," Hammond conceded, moved by Buffy's words.

"Thank you, sir."

XXXXXXXX

Buffy's senses were hypersensitive as she lay in her bed at Jack's house. She could hear everyone's chatter over the radios and even Jack flipping through a magazine in his room.

"Carter, you still got your ears on?" Jack's disembodied voice asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Daniel, Teal'c?"

"Everything appears to be normal, O'Neill."

"Yeah? Not to me," Jack drawled.

Buffy reached over and grabbed her radio. "I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"I could hear your bed creaking," Jack said with a snort. "You're across the hall."

"Very funny."

Sam's voice cut through. "You want to go over the instructions I gave you again?"

"Don't worry, Carter, I'm sure I'll figure…"

Buffy froze as he was cut off. A flash of white light could be seen under Jack's door. Worried about her friend, she jumped out of bed and ran into his room. She nearly sobbed with relief as she recognized Jack's older form snoring on his bed.

A moment later, the rest of SG-1 joined her. "Well, phase one complete," Buffy said, kneeling next to Jack. She gently shook him.

His body jumped slightly as he opened his eyes. "You need something?" He asked in concern.

"Not really," she said with a smile. She stood so he could see the others.

He frowned. "What are you all doing in my bedroom?"

"It's a long story, sir."

Jack groaned and sat up, his bare feet just touching the floor. "I assume this is… important?"  
"No, Jack. We gathered here for the hell of it," Buffy said dryly.

"Okay, I deserved that," he said, slowly standing up. As he stretched, he remembered something. "I was having the weirdest dream."

A bright, white flash of light blinded the five of them for a moment. When it died away they found themselves on an Asgard ship. "Whoa," Buffy whispered.

"There, you see, Carter? Told you it was no problem," the younger Jack said, walking over to them. He was still carrying the zat gun.

"Good to see you in one piece," Buffy said with a smile.

Young Jack stopped next to the older one and studied him. Buffy hid a smile with her hand. The two were identically dressed in an Air Force t-shirt and dark blue sweatpants. The cuffs of their shirts were rolled slightly up.

"What's goin' on?" The older one asked, looking at his teammates.

Buffy rolled her eyes when they all looked away. This was starting to look like typical behavior for them. It was hard to believe that this was the crack team saving the Earth from alien attack.

"Wow, uh, you know, I'm really much taller than I think."

Older Jack looked at the boy in confusion and then back at his team. "Carter?"

"Colonel O'Neill, meet… Colonel O'Neill."

Jack looked the boy over and then asked again, "What's goin' on?"

"We're pretty sure this Asgard over here," Daniel said, pointing at the Asgard that younger O'Neill must have subdued, "kidnapped you and attempted to replace you with a clone."

"How long was I asleep?"

"Seven days," Sam replied.

He looked impressed. "That's a record." He looked at his younger self. "So you're…me."

"Yeah, uh, believe me, if you think it's weird, imagine how I feel being the copy."  
Older Jack looked over at Buffy. "You're clearance came through, I take it?"

"Not before you told me everything anyways," she said, nudging the younger one with her elbow. "Why didn't you tell me that you had requested it?"

"Didn't want to get your hopes up if it didn't," he said with a shrug. "So… not mad at me about all of this?"

"Nah. I can see why you've kept this a secret," she said.

A noise from the other side of the room pulled their attention. "He is awakened," Teal'c said.

Buffy hung back as the others crowded around a small grey alien with large black eyes that was tied to some sort of chair.

"What's happening?" It asked in a strange voice.

"We were kind of hoping you could tell us," Sam said.

"No, no, no… this is all wrong."

"Hey!" Older Jack cried. "I'll tell you what's wrong. I just woke up, haven't had coffee, let alone a pee in seven days, and I find out you stole my ass and made a… mini-me."

Buffy couldn't stop the snort of laughter from escaping her lips. Until then, she hadn't even thought of that reference.

While the others talked, she drifted over to the viewport. She stared down at the Earth below them and was awed by how peaceful it looked from space. Never in a million years would she have believed that one day she would be staring at her planet from an alien spaceship. This was almost too much for her to believe.

She could hear the alien going on about his illegal genetic research behind her. He sounded like some sort of strange enthusiast.

"Why risk coming back here and breaking the law after nineteen years?" Daniel asked.

"Because I though _he_ was the one."

"Me?" Both O'Neill's asked at the same time.

"Him?" Buffy asked, turning back to them.

"I believed his genetic code contained the key."

"Mine?" They asked again.

"Stop it," older Jack said in irritation.

"Like he can!" Buffy said, walking over to stand next to the clone. "He's you." Older Jack just glared at her.

"He was physiologically advanced enough to carry and utilize all of the data from the Ancient repository of knowledge," the alien continued. "That would not have been possible for any human one generation ago. He is a significant step forward on your evolutionary path."

"You just found this out recently?" Daniel asked skeptically.

"I learned about it when all the Asgard did. O'Neill is legendary."  
Buffy laughed.

"That's not funny," both Jacks protested.

"Sorry," she mumbled, clearly not as her shoulders shook with silent laughter.

"I hate to interrupt," the younger one said, "but I'm on a deadline here. How do we stop me from dying?"

"We cannot. I cannot reverse your fate. Nor can I explain why you did not mature to the proper age as you should have."

"That's it," the older O'Neill said, moving over to one of the consoles. "Carter, can you call Thor on this thing?"

"Please… do not," the alien said, as Sam moved to a different console and started moving crystals.

"Oh shut up," Buffy snapped. "I think you've done enough damage already."  
Sam looked up and said, "Okay, pretty sure that's it."


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five **

Buffy looked around as the others stood with expectant looks on their faces. "You sure you dialed the right phone number?" She asked Sam.

"Whoa," the younger Jack said as he swayed on his feet.

She rushed over to him. "What's wrong?"

"Just a little dizzy," he admitted.

"Wanna sit down?"

"There's not exactly an abundance of chairs," he pointed out.

"I meant the floor, dummy."

"Hey! Don't give her a hard time," Jack told his younger self.

"Oh, puhlease, like you…"

A flash of white light filled the room, revealing another small grey alien. "Greetings, O'Neill. I apologize for not coming sooner. Loki, what have you done?" He asked, walking over to him.

"Seems he's been playing Dr. Moreau behind your back," the younger Jack said, as he and the rest of SG-1 returned to standing around Loki.

"Yes… Dr. Moreau," Jack echoed.

Thor shook his head. "You should have known that O'Neill's genetic code was safeguarded for his own protection."

"Excuse me?" Jack asked in surprise.

"A marker was placed in your DNA to prevent any attempts at genetic manipulation."

"That's why the clone didn't mature," Carter said in understanding. "Is it true that Colonel O'Neill is the key to solving your cloning problems?"

"No."

"But I thought I was advanced," Jack pouted.

"Indeed you are, O'Neill, but our scientists have already determined that while you are an important step forward in the evolutionary chain, the missing link we have been searching for still eludes us."

"Good," Buffy said with a smirk. "Keeps your head from getting too big."

"Yeah, great. Can we get back to the part where I'm dying?" The younger O'Neill groused.

"The eventual genetic breakdown of the clone is not my doing, but rather the result of Loki's inept methods," Thor said simply.

"There was no need for the clones to survive," Loki said defensively.

"But can you fix him?" Buffy asked.

Thor looked at Jack. "Do you wish for your clone to survive?"

Jack hesitated and looked over at Buffy. She had that resolute look on her that she called Willow's Resolve Face. He sighed. He didn't know what had happened over the last week, but he was going to trust Buffy. "Yeah."

"Very well. I will attempt to repair his DNA. If successful, he should continue to mature at a normal human rate." Thor turned to Buffy and solemnly bowed his head. "It is an honor to meet you, Buffy Summers."

She looked at him in surprise. "You know me?"

"All of the Asgard know of your efforts in keeping your world safe. You have outperformed all of your predecessors."

Buffy blushed. "Umm, thanks."

Both Jacks grinned at her and the older one said, "You're famous. And you thought it was a big deal that Dra… that one guy had heard of you," he said, catching himself in time.

"Sir, what is he talking about?" Sam asked.

"Do your teammates not know of the Slayer?" Thor asked Jack.

"Well, they do now," he said irritably.

"I had assumed…"

Jack threw a hand up. "Ack! We know what assuming does, don't we? I _was_ the only one who knew."

"Jack?"

"Not now, Daniel. I'll explain this later… maybe." He looked at Buffy.

"I don't know," she said, worry coloring her voice.

"It's up to you, but you can trust them."

"We'll see," she said. "Let's just finish this up."

"Of course." Jack looked at Thor. "So how long will this take?"

XXXXXXXX

"And Thor said it should only take two days to repair the damage, but he wants the clone to stay for several days to make sure he caught everything," Sam said, summarizing the mission.

"Good, that will give us time to create the paperwork for his identity," Hammond said with an approving nod. "Good work, everyone. Colonel, it's good to have you back."

"Thank you, sir."

"You're dismissed. Miss Summers, I would like to speak to you please," George said, gesturing to his office.

"I won't tell anyone about this," she said nervously.

"I know you won't," he said with a smile. "This is about a different matter."

"Is this gonna take long? 'Cause Jack is my ride."

"He can join us if he'd like. Colonel?"

"Sure," Jack said, before following them into the office.

Once everyone was seated, Hammond began, "Miss Summers, Colonel O'Neill requested your clearance for several reasons: the first being that he believed that you would be curious during your stay here and would somehow find out."

"That's probably true," she admitted.

"He also suggested that I offer you a temporary position here until you are ready to return home."

Buffy looked at Jack in surprise. "You did?"

"I figured you'd get bored at the house all day," he said with a shrug.

"I must say, Miss Summers, that I am impressed with how quickly my supervisors approved of this. Do you happen to know why?"

"Probably."

He waited for her to continue for several moments. When it appeared she wasn't going to, he asked, "And the reason is?"

She looked over at Jack.

"Hey, don't look at me, this is your decision. If you want to work here, I suggest you tell him."

"Do you know about this, Jack?" Hammond asked, turning to look at his second in command.

"Of course I do," Jack said smugly. For once, he knew what was going on before everyone else and he was enjoying it. "Why else would I suggest this? But it's not my secret to tell."

"Very well. Miss Summers?"

"Can I think it over?"

"Take as long as you need," Hammond said.

"Just one question. What would I be doing here?" She asked curiously.

"You'd be assigned to an SG team and go through the gate on missions."

Her eyes widened. "You'd… you'd let me go in the field without knowing what I'm capable of?"

"Jack and my superiors assured me that you are more than able to handle whatever threat you might encounter in the field."

"Not to mention he added Daniel to my team in the beginning. He was a total geek back then, not a partial one like now. But Hammond approved it," Jack reminded her.

"Okay, just let me think this over."

XXXXXXXX

A week later, Buffy sat in a guest room on the base with the younger looking Jack. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

He looked at her in wonder. "You know, I think you're the first person to ask me that since I got back this morning?"

"Well, shame on them. So?"

"Feeling good. Actually, better than I have in years. How about you? Still having the nightmares?"

She played absently with her fingers. "Just about every other night."

"Better than every night," he pointed out.

"I guess." She looked up at him. "So what's your plan now?"

"Going back to high school."

"You're kidding, right? I mean that's just… ugh. Why would you want to?"

"Buffy, I'm stuck in this sixteen year old body. People look at me and think I belong in school," he said in exasperation.

"So? Get one of those 'I graduated from school early' things."

"Won't work, I'm not smart enough" he said.

"Jack."

"It's John now, thank you."

"You can't go back to high school, you'll go nuts," she said with a shake of her head.

"Whaddaya mean?"

"You know what's out there, all of your experiences, your training, just for starters. You can't interact with those kids on a daily basis and pretend to be one of them."

"Sure I can. I've had undercover training. Special Ops remember? And you did it," he pointed out. "You went to high school while you were the slayer."

"That's not the same."

Jack sighed. "At the moment, it's what I want to do. That may change later. Can you just accept that and move on?"

"Call me in a month."

"What?"

"Call me in a month," she repeated.

"Why?"

"Just promise to do it."

"Okay," he said slowly, giving her a strange look.

"I'll explain when you call."

"Fine," he said, before they both lapsed into silence.

Jack, or rather, John, was thankful for this time alone with Buffy. He had missed her during that week on Thor's ship. Not to mention, he'd been incredibly bored as well. But Buffy had been the only one who had treated him like him since she had understood that he had been 'de-aged'. Even though his team had tried, little things had given it away that they still saw the body not the person. With Buffy he could relax and not have to try and _prove_ that he was himself.

He looked over and saw she was fidgeting. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Don't give me that crap."

"I'm just thinking some stuff over," she replied with a shrug.

"Like what?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Oh, did you talk to the 'real' me then?" He said, hurt shining in his brown eyes. He had just gotten finished thinking that she was different from the others and now this.

"I am talking to the real you, Jack," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"It's John."

"Jack."

"John."

"Jack."

"John."

"Fine, John."

"And don't think that's going to deter me," he said firmly.

"From what?"

"From finding out what's bothering you."

"Fine. General Hammond offered me a job."

"Sweet, so when do you start?"

"I haven't given him an answer yet," she said, concentrating on cleaning out the dirt from under a fingernail.

"Why not?"

"Because I came out here to heal, not to fight another battle," she said, still not looking at him.

"Buffy, you need something to help distract you during the day. You need this, even if it's just a temporary thing."

"But…"

"No, buts. What did you do during that time I was on base while they were trying to figure how to heal me?"

"I sat around your house worrying about you and missing Dawn."

"And what did you do this past week while I was on Thor's ship and the other me was at work?" He gently asked.

"The same thing," she said softly.

He reached out to tilt her chin up so she would look him in the eye. "I asked George to offer you the job to give you something to do during the day. It's not healthy to mourn twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Believe me I know." He tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear before continuing. "I'm not saying that you shouldn't mourn, just don't let it control your life. This position would give you a chance to master your grief."

"Oh, Jack," she said tearfully, wrapping her arms around his neck. The fact that he didn't correct her on his name again was a sign that he understood how hard this decision was for her.

John held her tightly. "Why didn't you talk to _him_ about this?"

"Just couldn't find the right time. Besides, he kept insisting that it was my decision."

"Yeah, that sounds like me," John said wryly. "So how did you explain the slayer thing to the others?"

"I haven't."

He pulled back and looked at her in surprise. "Why not?"

She shrugged. "It's a need to know thing and they don't need to know. I'm gonna tell Hammond since I'll be working here and he should know about all of my skills."

"What about your team or Fraiser?"

"Maybe. We'll see."

XXXXXXXX

Buffy bolted up in bed. Her breathing was ragged and her heart pounded against her ribcage. She could feel cold sweat trickle down her back, underneath her camisole. She looked wildly around the room, trying to get her bearings.

Then Jack's worried brown eyes were there and she concentrated on them. Her body calmed somewhat as he pulled her into a comforting embrace.

"You're alright. It was just a dream," he murmured in her ear.

"I don't even remember what it was about, just that it was terrifying. I was so lost," she whimpered.

"I know. I've had those before."

She pulled back some to look at him. "When Daniel died. I remember you having them that weekend."

"I had them for at least a month afterwards," he confessed.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you," she said, cupping his cheek with her hand, her thumb lightly rubbing the stubbled skin. "How did you deal with it?"

"Mostly I worked myself to the point of exhaustion so I wouldn't dream. And there was lots of beer involved."

Buffy wearily sighed and buried her face in his shoulder. "I'm so glad you're here for me."

"Me, too, sweetheart. Me, too," he said, placing a soft kiss on her head. He could feel her body relax as the memory of the nightmare left her and was glad that he could actively do something to help her.

As she snuggled against him, Buffy became aware of what Jack was wearing. Or rather, what he wasn't. He was clad only in a pair of blue plaid boxers and she could feel the bare skin of his chest on her cheek. A delicious shiver of excitement ran through her body.

"Are you cold?" He asked softly.

"A little," she lied.

"Need an extra blanket? Cup of herbal tea?"

"Tea might be nice," she said truthfully. Her nightmare had shaken her completely awake and the tea could help her get back to sleep.

"I'll be right back with it," he said, releasing her.

She watched him get up from the bed and walk to the door. For not the first time, she was thankful for her slayer enhanced night vision. She could easily see his lean form in the moonlight. The strong muscles of his back shifted slightly under his skin as he moved. All in all it was a wonderful sight that was gone far too quickly.

Buffy lay back in her bed while she listened to Jack puttering around the kitchen. As much as she loved this treatment, there was the danger of becoming attached to it. It would be far too easy to become comfortable and complacent here. She just had to keep reminding herself that this was all just temporary.


	7. Chapter Six

**A/N:** I created a first name for Balinsky. Gateworld did not list one for him, but Arduinna's Handbook listed Cameron. Because of Lt. Col. Mitchell I chose Jeffery instead so there wouldn't be any confusion

Chapter Six 

Buffy tried to hide her nervousness as she entered the briefing room. She was about to meet the three men who were her new team. Thankfully, the burden of leadership was not on her shoulders, but on those of Colonel Dave Dixon.

SG-13 was an exploration and first contact team like SG-1, which meant there was supposedly less chance of fighting. However, the man she was replacing, Jake Bosworth, was out for an indeterminate time due to injuries received off world. So while the chance of a fight was slim, it was possible. Very possible.

When she had told General Hammond that she would accept the job, she had also explained to him who she really was. He just calmly nodded his acceptance and welcomed her to the program. He understood why she was hesitant about others learning the truth, but advised that her team should also be aware. Buffy balked at that, and they eventually settled on a compromise. The team would be apprised of some of her abilities – speed, fighting capabilities, and her heightened senses – but not told how or why she had them.

Hammond would inform the team about Buffy without her present. Then he would tell them that under no circumstances were they to question her further about it. Once the team had been fully briefed, he would send for her.

Now she was to convince these men that she was the woman George had just described. It was always a benefit for her that her enemies underestimated her because of her size, but it was a pain in the ass when it came to potential allies. They were going to take one look at her and decide she was going to be a hindrance.

"Good morning, Miss Summers," George said with a warm smile as he stood. "I'd like for you to meet Colonel Dave Dixon, he'll be your immediate CO. Senior Airman Simon Wells, and Dr. Jeffery Balinsky."

Buffy took a moment to look the three men over. The Colonel stood at least a foot taller than her and was solidly built. His dark eyes were assessing her, as well. She could almost see him trying to attach the image he had created in his mind based on her description to the real thing and knew she was coming up a little short, literally. To his credit, his eyes only betrayed this for the briefest moment before turning neutral. Hopefully it meant he was going to be open-minded about it.

Simon wasn't as tall or as broad as the Colonel. His face was warm and open, but he was clearly confused. He still nodded politely to her.

As for Jeffery, she hated to think it, but he looked like a geek. His red hair was slightly disheveled and freckles stood out on his pale skin. He waved cheerily at her and she couldn't help but smile back.

"Have a seat, Miss Summers," Hammond said. After everyone was seated once again, he began the mission briefing. "Planet PX3-461 is, to all appearances, free from any indigenous life. I want you to do a sweep of the surrounding area and collect some samples. It shouldn't take you more than eight hours."

"Aww, General…"

"Colonel, this is your first mission since Bosworth's injury a month ago and it will be Miss Summers first time through the gate. I don't want to throw you immediately into a battle. Need I remind you that you are an exploration team?"

"No, sir," Dixon said, shifting in the large, black chair.

"Good. You leave in one hour. Dismissed." Then he stood and went into his office.

"Well, Balinsky, sounds like you're the only one who's going to have fun this time," Dixon said.

"Is the samply thing boring?" Buffy asked, looking at Dave and Simon's grim faces.

"The worst," Dixon groused, closing his folder. "I'd rather sit at a first contact meeting where I don't know the language than dig around in the dirt. At least there's usually food at the meetings."

"We'll spend most of our time making sure Jeffery doesn't get hurt," Simon added.

"I haven't hurt myself in four months," Jeffery protested. "And those other times weren't my fault."

"Whatever, Balinsky," Dave said. "That last month doesn't count 'cause we were on base. Now let's get packed."

Buffy sighed softly to herself as they exited. It would be hard work to be accepted into this group.

Jeffery stopped and waited for her to catch up. When she did, he said, "Really, I'm not as bad as they make me sound. My track record is better than Dr. Jackson's."

"Huh?"

"He's legendary on the base. He's been hurt the most, died a few times, and ascended. There's a rumor that he's why Colonel O'Neill has gone grey."

She giggled. "He did tell me that once."

"So it's true? You know Colonel O'Neill from before."

"We've been friends for years," she said with a smile.

"Just as a warning, some people think you got hired because… well, you know," he said, his face matching the color of his hair. "I don't believe it myself. First, I don't think General Hammond would have allowed it. Secondly, I know the Air Force wouldn't have, for sure. They wouldn't have jeopardized this program just to accommodate the whim of a Colonel. So you must be pretty good to get hired that quickly."

"Thank you, Jeffery, for being honest," Buffy said with a sad smile. It seemed she would be spending her time here proving the rumors wrong.

"I just thought you should know," he said with a shrug. "And call me Jeff, please. I hate Jeffery, it sounds stuffy."

"But the Colonel and Simon…"

"Do it just to annoy me. So I call the Colonel, Dave instead of his rank," he said mischievously.

"Noted," she said with a grin.

He grinned back. "They're not that bad, really. See you in the gateroom," he said, ducking into the men's locker room.

Buffy headed towards the women's room. This wouldn't be too bad she decided. At least one member of the team was friendly.

XXXXXXXX

Forty-five minutes later, Buffy was waiting with Simon in the gateroom. She hadn't gotten a chance to ask Jeff if the other members of the team believed the rumors or not. She hated not know where she stood with people. To top things off, she couldn't think of a way to break the ice. She was saved from saying something really lame by Dave and Jeff's entrance.

"Dial it up," Dave called out, adjusting the pack on his back. He glanced over at her. "Where are your weapons?"

"I've got a handgun and a zat," she said. She had opted against the P-90. She had really just wanted the zat, but they told her that she had to carry something else with it. The thought of carrying any type of gun was an anathema to her so she chose what she considered the lesser evil. She was hoping to only ever use the zat and her knives.

Dave grunted, seeing the two mentioned guns strapped to her legs. "Good. I know they said you were better with the hand to hand stuff, but our fights tend to be more long distance."

"Never said I was better at it, I just prefer it," she clarified, watching the inner ring of the gate spin. She could feel the others confused looks on her back. The last chevron locked and something that looked like water came rushing out before being pulled back to create a shimmering surface.

A grin was on Dave's face as he said, "Not every job lets you see that, does it, Summers?"

"You'd be surprised," she muttered to herself. She had been through far too many portals in her life.

"SG-13, you have a go," came Hammond's voice over the intercom.

She looked up in the control room to see Jack standing next to the General. He gave her a quick thumbs up and an encouraging smile. With more confidence than she felt, she turned and followed the others up the ramp. She had literally been to heaven and hell and back, she could survive a trip to another planet. Letting out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding, she stepped through the event horizon.

What seemed like only a second later, she emerged on the other side to see a wide, grassy plain. A huge grin split her face and then it faltered as she thought about how Dawn would have loved this. There was so much about life that her baby sister would never experience now.

"Are you all right, Summers? Your first few trips through can be shaky," Dixon said, looking at her in slight concern.

"I'm fine," she replied, pulling away from her thoughts on Dawn. She put her sunglasses on and silently thanked Jack who had insisted that she pack them. The sun was quite bright.

"Taking bets," Jeff said, holding a small notepad.

"Bets?" Buffy asked.

"On what we'll find on the planet," Jeff said. "We have a pot of money back on the base."

"What happens when someone wins?"

"They get to pick the place to eat."

"Abandoned naquadah mine," Simon said.

"Aliens that look like plants," Dave said, his eyes searching the seemingly deserted plain.

"Ancient ruins for me," Jeff said, writing everything down. He looked at Buffy. "You in?"

"Sure. Umm, a primitive tribe living in a cave."

"Creative," Dave said approvingly. "Alright, let's spread out. Wells, you take right, I'll take left. Summers and Balinsky stay center."

Buffy bit back a retort that she could handle a flank and remembered that she was just a newbie. He'd never seen her fight before and they weren't likely to meet anyone on this planet anyway. Hostile or not.

He must have caught her expression because he said, "It's nothing against you. You're technically a civilian."

"I know," she said calmly. She really wasn't in the mood to argue with him. It would have been bad manners to cause a hassle on her first day.

A slightly surprised look crossed his face. "Well… good. Let's move out."

XXXXXXXXX

Daniel took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes while he forced himself not to sigh. Putting the glasses back on, he said, "What's wrong, Jack?"

"Nothing."

"You've been here for twenty minutes fiddling with a Greek fertility statue and not saying a word."

"So?"

The archaeologist got up and took the statue out of Jack's hands. He put it back on the shelf where it belonged and turned to see that Jack had picked up an urn. "Jack…"

"Daniel."

"Jack, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Daniel's lips pressed together to form a thin line, and then decided to try a different tack. "I thought you were going to watch Buffy leave on her first mission."

"I did."

"Ah."

"Ah? What do you mean, ah?" Jack asked, looking at him for the first time.

"Just ah," Daniel said, walking around Jack to sit back down at his desk.

Jack put the urn down and gave Daniel his full concentration. "No, you must have meant something by it, you always do."

"It just explains your behavior."

"Oh, it does, does it? Tell me, O Wise One, how does Buffy leaving have anything to do with my behavior?"

"You're worried about her. You're the one who recruited her and if she gets hurt you'll blame yourself," Daniel said simply, his casual tone belying the humor he felt at the situation. Jack wanted everyone to think he was tough as nails and, while he was, there was a softness to him that only those who were truly close to him knew about. The mere fact that Jack was letting Daniel to see that he cared this much for Buffy humbled him. It was also funny to see Jack direct his mother-henning skills on someone other than his own team.

"Well, yeah, but that's not the reason."

The corners of Daniel's mouth quirked slightly up. "Jack, I do remember that you only fiddle with my 'rocks' when you're worried about something but don't really want to admit it."

"Okay, fine… I'm worried about Buffy. Happy now?"

"Not completely."

"For cryin' out loud, Daniel, I admitted it, what more do you want?" Jack said irritably, moving about the office.

"I think there's more."

Jack stopped with his back to Daniel. After a long pause he said, "I'm not sure if I was right in offering this to Buffy."

"What do you mean?"

"She's been through a lot in the past ten years. More than you and me combined. What if this is just another pain or torment that she has to endure? Or worse, what if this is the thing that will finally break her?" Jack finished softly.

"Why did you arrange this for her then?"

"Because she needed a distraction," Jack said, studying the spine of a book. "She's a woman of action, of initiative. Dawn's death shook her. I could see it in her eyes. She needed something to fight, to release her pain and anger on so she wouldn't self-destruct. I didn't want… I didn't want what almost happened to me, to happen to her."

Daniel stared at Jack's back, thunderstruck. He'd never heard Jack be so open. He once again felt humbled by how much Jack must trust him to reveal all of this. As he carefully mulled over the best thing to say, he moved to stand behind his friend.

"Jack… I don't know Buffy that well, but I do know you. I don't think you would have done this if you didn't think it would help. She had to have believed you in order to accept. She doesn't seem to be the type to blindly go where others tell her."

A small smirk appeared on Jack's lips that Daniel couldn't see. "No, she's not."

"Just remember, Jack, you showed her the door. She's the one who chose to go through it."

"And if something happens to her?"

"It's the Jaffa or the Goa'uld's fault, not yours," Daniel firmly said.

Jack finally turned and gave Daniel a faint smile. "Thanks." Then he headed towards the door.

"You really care for her," Daniel said, causing Jack to stop.

"Yeah."

"Do you love her?"

"Wouldn't matter if I did," Jack said before slipping out the door. Daniel watched him go with a knowing look on his face.

XXXXXXXXX

"Hey, Jack," Buffy said, bouncing into his office.

His eyes scanned her for any obvious injuries. When he didn't see any, he relaxed. "Hey, you. Have fun?"

"Nope. Collecting samples is very boring and I didn't win the bet," she pouted.

"Usually only the scientists enjoy that sample stuff," Jack agreed. "So what did you bet on?"

"That we'd find a tribe in a cave."

"Pretty far-fetched, don't you think?"

"No worse than Dave's. He kept insisting that the plants were aliens," she said.

"Dixon treat you okay? What about the others?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Yes, dad. I got along with the other kids and they were nice to me."

"Hey!" He said in mock hurt. "Just be thankful I didn't threaten Dixon."

"He mentioned that," she said, raising an eyebrow at him. "Dave said you usually threaten the other teams when Daniel goes out with them. That if Daniel gets hurt then they get hurt. He said you must really trust me if he didn't get the lecture."

Jack frowned. "He said that?"

"Yup, but I told him that he probably didn't get the lecture 'cause you knew that if I found out I'd kick you ass."

"And what did he say to that?"

"He laughed," she said with a laugh of her own. "Does Daniel know about these little threats of yours?"

"No, and he won't," Jack said, giving her a pointed look.

"Gotcha," she said with an evil grin. "He won't hear about it from me."

"Why don't I believe you?"

"I dunno," she said innocently. "Let's go get something to eat. I've walked most of the day. And when I wasn't walking, I was watching Jeff play in the dirt."

"Didn't you eat your MRE?" Jack asked, grabbing his coat.

"If you call choking cardboard down eating, then yes, I did," she snorted. "I don't understand how they expect anyone to survive on that. But I'm starving."

"Okay, okay. Let's go," Jack said, turning off the light as they left.


	8. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven **

"Hey, Carter, what's up?" Jack asked from the weight bench as Sam sat her towel on the one next to him. They were the only ones in the on base gym.

"Not much, sir," she said, adjusting the weights.

Jack paused at her clipped tone. He looked over to see her face was slightly pinched – never a good sign. He put his weights down and sat up to face her. "What's on your mind, Carter?"

"Hmm, sir?" She asked, still not looking at him.

"You've got that look about you that says you've got a problem with something."

Sam stilled her movements, and then suddenly whirled to face him. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

This can't be good, Jack thought. She had rarely asked him this over the years. "Sure, go ahead," he said with a wave of his hand.

"I just don't understand you sometimes. I mean, this girl appears out of nowhere, _you_ say you've known her for years but you've _never_ mentioned her to any of us. You somehow manage to get her clearance and a spot on a team in record time, and you seem to trust her implicitly. I don't get it."

Jack rubbed his eyes. "I don't know exactly what you're upset about. I mean, is it the fact that I trust her or that I've never mentioned her before, or is it her clearance?"

"All of it!"

"Carter, sit." He waited and when it was apparent that she wasn't going to, he repeated the order, "Sit."

Her eyes were unreadable as she stiffly sat down. She patiently waited for him to begin.

"Buffy… She…" Jack sighed. This was one of the reasons why he never told them about her. She and their relationship were not easy to define. He knew that no matter what he said that Carter was going to walk away from this conversation not fully satisfied and probably quite angry. Choosing what was probably not the wisest course, but the only one he could think of, he tried again. "Okay, first off, Buffy is a woman, not a girl. Don't let the valley girl act fool you, she's _way_ smarter than that. I'm not saying she's a genius like you, but she's not an idiot."

"Sir," she said, blushing slightly at the unexpected praise.

"Ah! Let me finish. I've known Buffy for a long time, but I've known other people longer and you don't see me blabbing about them every chance I get. There are probably a lot of people that you know well and haven't mentioned to me."

She nodded ruefully. "But what about her clearance?"

He sighed. "That's the one thing I can't fully explain to you. All I can say is that I had nothing to do with how quickly it came through. That was solely based on _her_ merit, not mine. I don't know all of it either. Does that help any?"

"A bit, sir."

"You still have questions, though," he said, catching the thoughtful expression on her face.

"I keep thinking about what Thor called her. The Slayer. Do you know what it means?"

"Slayer? Wasn't there a hair band in the eighties called that? Maybe Thor thought she was a member. It's the hair. You know, they don't have any, we do. It could confuse…"

Sam gave him an unamused look. "Sir."

"Carter, it's not my secret to tell and I won't betray Buffy's trust. And don't go looking for it on your computer thing or in any books. That's an order. It will only cause problems."

"I wasn't going…" She began but Jack cut her off.

"Ack! I know you. This is a tasty challenge for you and I'm telling you to back off," he said sternly.

Her blue eyes stared long into his serious brown ones before nodding her acceptance.

"Good, now I'm going to take a shower." He looked up to see Buffy walk over to the training mats. He turned back to Carter. "Why don't you work on your observation skills for a while? Might see something interesting that'll calm those fears." Then he left after saying a brief hello to Buffy.

Sam's eyes switched to Buffy and did as Jack had suggested – she watched. She frowned as it quickly became apparent that there wasn't much to see as the young woman sat peacefully in the lotus position and meditated. Honestly, it wasn't very interesting, just a step above watching paint dry.

After half an hour, Sam was ready to finally accept defeat and admit that Jack had really pulled a fast one on her, when Buffy got up. She moved easily over to one of the storage cabinets, her bare feet silent on the blue mat. The silence of the gym was broken as Buffy moved things around in the search of something. Triumphant, she carried what looked to be a two-foot long 4X4 to the middle of the mat and sat it down on one end.

Buffy placed her hands on top of it and closed her eyes. Her body stilled as she took several deep breaths. Then she suddenly shifted her weight to her arms and went into a handstand – on top of the block of wood. Buffy's inverted body never wavered.

Sam's lower jaw dropped slightly in amazement as she watched Buffy raise one arm so that she was precariously balanced on one hand. She had never seen anything like it. Well, not in real life. Thanks to Teal'c's "Star Wars" obsession she had seen Luke do a similar thing, multiple times, in "The Empire Strikes Back". But that was different. It was a movie and they had all sorts of special tricks to make people believe what they were seeing. Plus, Luke had been on solid ground, not a surface the size of her palm.

Even Luke had been unsteady with the feat. Buffy's body never shook nor did she break out into a sweat. It was as if a one-handed handstand was as natural as standing on her two feet. It was remarkable.

Buffy eventually returned to a two handed handstand. Painfully slow, she lowered herself back to the ground. Once there, she returned the block of wood to the cabinet. The tiny woman went back to the center of the mat and began some sort of martial arts kata.

Sam sat mesmerized. Buffy was in complete control of every movement her body made. She seemed to be like water as she moved fluidly through the steps.

Jack was right. There was definitely more to Buffy than met the eye and she had been completely unfair to the younger woman. SG-1 was like family to her – one that had only recently gotten back together. Her familial insecurities had reared their ugly head and seen Buffy as a threat.

It didn't help that Jack held a soft spot for Buffy. Sam's own feelings for Jack were so confusing that she wouldn't be surprised if that was part of her problem with the young woman. Jealousy could cloud one's judgment as easily as love could.

She was going to have to clamp down on these emotions and get past it. If she didn't, things were just going to get worse.

When it was clear that Buffy was finished, Sam got up and approached her. "That was beautiful."

Startled, Buffy jumped slightly. "Oh my god, I didn't know that there was anyone else in here."

"Sorry."

"It's okay, it's just… you know, startling."

Sam smiled. "Yeah, I know. The Colonel does it to me all of the time. Startles me when I'm in the middle of a project, that is."

"Jack's good at doing silly stuff like that," Buffy said with a roll of her eyes. She sat down on a nearby bench to put her shoes back on and Sam sat next to her.

"Not meaning to pry or anything, but how are you?" Sam asked.

"A little better everyday," Buffy said softly. Her eyes stayed firmly on her task of tying her shoes.

"Feeling guilty, huh?" Sam said knowingly.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, looking up at Sam.

"That you're not wallowing in your pain. That you don't miss her tremendously with every passing second."

"How would you know anything about it?" Buffy snapped.

Sam gave her a small smile. "My mom died when I was fourteen. I just remember how guilty I felt when one day I realized that I hadn't thought about her for a whole six hours. She was my mother. She took care of me. And for six hours the pain didn't gnaw at my heart. I was so worried that I'd forget about her. My father and brother weren't a lot of help at the time. Mark blamed dad for her death and dad immersed himself in work so I was left alone to deal with it."

"How did you?" Buffy asked, her hazel eyes shining slightly under the cool fluorescent lights of the gym.

"I'm afraid it took a couple of years. Mostly because I didn't have anyone. But I slowly began to appreciate the time I had had with her and rejoiced in it. I thought about the kids who never knew their mother or weren't close to them and realized I had been the lucky one."

The two fell silent for a while before Sam asked again, "So, guilty, huh?"

Buffy sighed. "A little. I mean, I've lost a lot of people in my life and it doesn't feel right that the pain of her death is easing like all the others. She was my baby sister. It should never go away."

"And it will, but that doesn't mean you'll forget about her. You'll still have your memories and stories to share with others."

Buffy mutely nodded, her gaze turned inward as she thought over what Sam had said.

"Well, I have some simulations to run, but if you ever want to talk…"

"Thank you," Buffy said sincerely.

Sam patted her lightly on the leg and got up. While she did feel for the younger woman, her curiosity burned brighter than ever. There was so much about her that was an enigma.

XXXXXXXXX

The next day, Buffy surveyed her options after filling her tray. She saw Jack sitting at one table with his team talking animatedly about something. Several tables away sat the other three members of her team. She was worried that if she sat with Jack, that people really would believe that she got hired because she was sleeping with him. It was bad enough that he drove her to and from the base.

Sitting with her own team would be the safer of the two options. In addition, it would help her get to know them a little better and vice versa. Confident with her decision, she walked over and asked, "Can I join you?"

"Sure," Jeff said, pointing to the seat next to him.

She sat down and took a bite of her sandwich as she listened to Jeff drone on about some mineral that had been found in the samples they had taken the other day. A quick glance at Dave and Simon talk her that they were barely listening, just interjecting the correct comments or questions at the right time. It was sort of familiar in that she used to do the same thing to Giles and Willow when they got going on a subject that she either didn't really understand or didn't care about.

When Jeff finally winded down, Buffy said, "Simon, you're awful chipper. What's up?"

He beamed at her. "I'm going to be a father. My wife Marci is pregnant."

"Congratulations!" She said, reaching around the table to give him a quick hug. "When is she due?"

"Seven and a half months."

"I think you're crazy, Wells, but congratulations," Dave said, shaking the young man's hand.

"Thank you, sir."

Jeff leaned over and whispered in Buffy's ear. "Dave and Sharon have four kids of their own so he has no room to talk."

"No whispering, Balinsky," Dave said. "I thought we broke you of that habit."

"Oh for cryin' in a bucket," Jeff said. "You were busy talking to Simon."

Buffy gave Jeff a strange look. "What did you just say?"

He blushed slightly. "For cryin' in a bucket," he said a little sheepishly.

"I thought that's what you said," she said.

"You'll get used to it, Summers," Dave said. "He's got all sorts of crazy sayings. It's one of those things we have to tolerate," he said with a huge sigh, but Buffy could see the teasing look on his face.

"As long as he doesn't work Star Wars into every conversation it'll be fine," she said, smiling at Jeff. "Or Dragonball Z, or Star Trek, or well… anything sci-fi."

Dave smirked at her. "This coming from a woman who is now employed to go through a piece of alien technology to other planets."

"Okay, point taken," she said. "But you know what I mean. Oh, and Lord of the Rings is out, too."

"Any particular reason for this?" Simon asked.

"A guy back home that I work with does it constantly." She said. "Sometimes I think that he believes the Force is real and that he's training to be a Jedi."

"Ouch," Dave said. "I think I'd probably kill him."

"Don't think I haven't been tempted, but he's a good cook so I've let him live."

"Way to think with your stomach," Dave laughed.

XXXXXXXXX

"Buffy seems to be fitting in nicely," Daniel said, indicating where she sat with SG-13.

Jack felt his jealousy flare as he watched Buffy hug one of the men before he was able to stop it. Pushing it aside, he said, "It's not like she's hard to get along with, is she, Carter?"

"No, she's not," she agreed.

"I haven't really got a chance to talk to her," Daniel said, giving Jack a pointed look.

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"I believe Daniel Jackson refers to the dinner you invited us to attend, but then never held due to the incident with the Asgard," Teal'c said, a small smirk on his lips.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Jack irritably asked.

"We were just waiting for all of the excitement to die down first," Sam teased. "And for Buffy to have time to adjust to the SGC."

"Then there was the whole issue of imposing," Daniel added.

"Oh for Pete's sake, you've never had a problem with imposing before. How many times have you shown up on my doorstep because you 'just happened to be in the neighborhood'?"

"Very well. We shall gather at your house tomorrow at seven then, O'Neill."

"Good," Jack said, getting up and taking his tray with him.

"That was too easy," Daniel said to Sam.

"Think he suspects anything?" she asked.

"Not a clue."

"While I do not agree to this guileful plan of yours, Major Carter, I confess that I, too, am curious about Buffy Summers true identity. There are more questions than answers in regards to her."

"Did you find anything?" Sam asked, looking at Daniel. Jack had not said anything about her asking Daniel to do any research.

"Just some vague references to a warrior against vampires and demons," he said with a sigh.

"Don't worry, we'll figure it out," she said in a determined tone.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight **

"Wow, Jack. This is really good. Where did you order it from?" Daniel asked.

"I didn't. Buffy made dinner," Jack said with a grin. "She's a wiz in the kitchen. I keep telling her she doesn't have to keep doing this, but she just shoos me out of the way."

Buffy blushed slightly. "And I just keep telling him that I'm used to it. Dinner tonight was actually easier than usual since there were more of you."

"So you're used to cooking for a lot of people?" Sam casually asked before taking a bit of her alfredo.

"After my mom died, a couple of my friends moved in with me and Dawn," Buffy said with a sad smile at the memory. "After a while, my other friends started coming over for dinner every night. In the beginning we ordered out mostly or one of them cooked." A happier smiled broke out on her face. "But in the past few years Andrew has been teaching me how to cook and I've either been helping him with the meals or cooking them myself. I'm afraid I'm not nearly as good as he is."

Daniel looked at her in shock. "You're kidding, right? Because this is excellent. Did you make the sauce from scratch?"

"I did."

"This is very good," Teal'c said with a small inclination of his head. "I still find many Tau'ri foods are not agreeable, but I am greatly enjoying this."

Buffy blushed again. She had grown accustomed to the Scoobies taking the home-cooked meals for granted. She had forgotten what being appreciated felt like. Not that Jack didn't thank or compliment her, it just felt different when it came from people she barely knew.

"So, where are you from?" Sam asked.

"Cleveland now, but I grew up in LA," Buffy said, taking a bite of chicken. She had a feeling that she was going to be asked a lot of questions that evening. Not that she could really blame them, if she'd been in their shoes, she'd be curious as well. Even if Jack hadn't exactly told her about what they did over the years, he had told her about his friends so she almost felt like she knew them. And she knew they were going to try and find out as much about her as they could. She was going to have to watch what she told them and she chose the simplest solution – selective lying by telling the truth. "After my parents divorced during my sophomore year, mom, Dawn and I moved to Sunnydale."

Sam frowned, her fork poised over her plate. "Sunnydale… Wasn't that the California town that fell into a sinkhole a few years ago?"

"Same one. My friends and I had moved to LA a few months before it happened and then Cleveland after that."

"Isn't it a little strange that all of you moved together?" Daniel asked.

"To others, maybe, but not to us. Sunnydale wasn't exactly the safest place to live. Willow's parents had moved two years before, Xander's weren't exactly the nurturing type to put it mildly, my mom was dead and I didn't have the faintest clue where my dad was. We were a family, it just felt natural," she said with a shrug.

"I think it is admirable that you have formed such close bonds with your friends," Teal'c said with a small smile.

The rest of dinner passed pleasantly as the focus shifted slightly away from Buffy and more towards just idle chitchat. Buffy relaxed and enjoyed the warm atmosphere. Afterwards, Sam and Daniel cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher while Jack quickly put up the few leftovers.

"How about some cards?" Jack asked, grabbing a beer for himself and a diet soda for Buffy. "Anybody else want?" He asked, setting the drinks on the table.

"Beer," Daniel said as he went to the drawer that Jack kept his cards and chips in.

"Diet Coke," Sam said, sitting down.

"Water will be sufficient," Teal'c said.

Jack retrieved the drinks and passed them out before taking a seat. "Poker okay with everyone?"

Buffy look sheepishly at the others as they chorused their agreement. "As long as I have cheat sheet so I know what beats what I'm good. And you'll probably have to keep reminding me of the rules."

"You'll be fine," Daniel assured her, sliding the helper card from the deck over to her along with a set of chips. "We keep it fairly simple – quarter bet, three bump limit, and table stakes."

She looked at Jack, "In English, please."

"You can't bet higher than or raise higher than a quarter, bets can only be raised three times, and you can't raise the bet higher than what someone has in their pile," Sam explained for her.

"And this is just for chips, right? Not real money?"

Jack grinned. "Well, they're not kittens, but chips will be fine."

"You are _so_ not funny," she said with a glare that didn't have any real heat behind it.

"Kittens, sir?" Sam asked, giving Jack a strange look.

"Long story," he said simply.

"Ante up," Daniel said, sliding the deck over to Teal'c for him to cut. Buffy threw in a white chip with everyone else and then Daniel dealt everyone two cards. "Let's start easy. Seven card stud, nothing wild, last card is choice."

"English, please," Buffy said with a wince, as she looked at her two cards.

"You're going to get a total of seven cards. Two first, then the next four come one at a time, face up. And you get to choose whether the last card is up or down," Jack said, placing another white chip in the pot. He saw her still confused look and explained again. "Up means everyone can see, down means only you can see it."

"So what do I do now?"

"Just throw a white chip in."

"Okay," she said skeptically, following the instructions. At the end of the hand, only Buffy and Jack were left in and he had been raising the pot. She laid down her cards to show them when she was told to and Jack groaned and dropped his head to the table.

"Take it, you won," Sam said with a grin.

"But I don't have anything," she said with a frown. On the table in front of her was an ace of spades, two of diamonds, and a six, king, four, nine, and ten of hearts. Jack had five cards of different suits in numerical order.

"You have a flush, which beats my straight," Jack said, raising his head. "I can't believe it. You only had two of them showing."

"I won?" Buffy asked. At everyone's amused nod, she grinned and said, "Whoo hoo!"

Several hands later, Daniel asked, "Are you enjoying your work at the SGC, Buffy?"

"It's not bad. I've done more field work in the last two weeks than I have in the past three months at my other job," she said absently, trying to make sense of her cards. They had changed the game to seven card stud, low hold wild. The wild card thing was just confusing her.

"So you work for the military?" He asked, ignoring Jack's questioning gaze.

"No, it's a private organization, but I've had brief ties to the military before."

"What do you do at this organization?" He asked, taking the card Sam dealt him.

"I can't tell you, security reasons," she said, not looking up from her cards. Deciding she had nothing and the two cards she had left to receive weren't going to help, she folded. "I'm going to get refills. Anyone else?"

"I'll join you," Jack said, having folded earlier in the hand. Once they were in the kitchen he said, "I'm sorry for the inquisition. I told Carter she wasn't allowed to investigate, but it looks like she's having Daniel do the dirty work. I'll talk to them."

"It's okay, Jack. It just means they care about you if they are assessing me," she said, pulling the jug of water out of the fridge. "And it's not like I've never had any experience dodging the truth. I've had to hide it from many people."

"I'm still going to talk to them," he said, leaning against the counter.

"If you want to, just be nice," she said, patting him on the cheek before putting the pitcher away.

"Hey! I can be nice," he called out as she went back to the dining room.

XXXXXXXXX

Buffy sighed as she walked down the ramp from the stargate. Third mission was just as boring as the first two. At least this time she got to spend overnight off-world, although it didn't help much. There was sample collecting fun to be had and she didn't win the bet… again. Her only consolation was that the others hadn't won yet either.

She couldn't believe she was actually thinking it, but this was kind of boring. Sure, she was getting out and seeing new places, but it wasn't challenging her. She was almost hoping that they'd get ambushed soon just so she could see what all the hoopla was about.

"Welcome back, SG-13. Briefing tomorrow at ten hundred," Hammond's voice said over the intercom.

"Thank god," Buffy said, smirking at Dave as they walked out of the gateroom to go to the infirmary. "The smell of all this manly sweat was making me nauseous."

"You're real funny," Dixon said with a smirk of his own. "You don't exactly smell like a rose."

"I'm insulted!" She joked. "Are you suggesting that I sweat?"

"No," Simon said with a smile. "Just that you smell."

Buffy quirked an eyebrow as the men laughed. "Keep it up, boys, but remember that I still smell better than you."

Dave wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "Are you sure about that?"

She noted that her nose was nearly level with his armpit and she faked some gagging noises. "Dave, you're disgusting," she said, easily slipping out his grip. Then she lightly kicked his butt from behind.

"I can't help that you're so short, Summers," he said with a grin as she caught back up.

"Any injuries I should know about?" Janet Fraiser, the base CMO, asked as they entered the infirmary laughing.

"Unless you count my offended nose, then no," Buffy said with a cheeky grin as she hopped up on a bed.

Janet grinned at her as the men voiced their protests. "Men can be such babies."

"I know," Buffy said with an exaggerated sigh as Janet began the routine examination.

"Is it really a problem?" Janet asked softly, knowing about Buffy's background.

"Nah, I just like giving them a hard time."

"So you're fitting in? No problems?" Janet asked as she shined her penlight into Buffy's eyes.

"I swear, you're as bad as Jac…" She frowned. "Did he put you up to this?"

"No," Janet assured her. "I ask that of all new members because stress affects your health. And troubles inside teams can create other problems."

"Oh, well… then yes, I think I am," Buffy answered. "It just takes time, but they're pretty good guys."

"Good. Well, you're clear to go," she said with a smile before moving to the next member.

"See you tomorrow, stinky boys!" Buffy called out as she quickly got off the bed and went out the door. She was on her way to the showers when she almost literally ran into Jack. "Hungry?" She asked, eyeing the four cups of green Jell-O in his hands.

His eyes raked over her, searching for injuries, as they did every time she came back from a mission. "It's for Teal'c. He got shot in the pouch by a staff blast yesterday."

"Is he okay?" She asked.

"Doc patched him up and said he'd recover. It's just going to be a long road since he doesn't have Junior anymore," Jack said wearily. The worry for his friend was etched on his face. "But T is a fighter and should be back on his feet in no time. How was your mission?"

"Boring and gross. Tropical forests are really, really humid."

"Ah, thought I smelled something… What?" He asked at her glare.

"I'll stop by and visit Teal'c after I take my shower," she said shortly before stalking away.

He shrugged off the glare and continued on his way.

XXXXXXXXX

Jack watched Buffy walk into the living room and he felt his heart catch. He never forgot how beautiful she was, but at random moments he would be struck by it and felt it deeper than he had felt anything before.

She settled next to him on the couch and he wrapped an arm around her, causing her to snuggle closer. As he reached into the bowl for a handful of popcorn, he said, "I hope this isn't that sugary kettle corn."

"It's not," she said lightly as he popped a few kernels into his mouth. "It's buttery kettle corn."

"Aww, Buffy," he said with a frown as he chewed.

"It's a compromise," she said. "I like kettle, you like butter. I hate making two batches 'cause we never eat all of both of them."

"This isn't too bad," he conceded, grabbing another handful while Buffy pushed the play button on the remote. "So what are we watching tonight?"

"An oldie, but a goodie."

"_Another_ cheesy eighties movie?" He whined. "Come on, Buffy. That'll be the third one this week."

"I like 'em," she said as the opening credits rolled.

"Well at least it's got some action in it," he said with relief. While "The Goonies" wasn't exactly on the top of his favorite movies list, it wasn't the worst movie either. A group of kids on the hunt of a one-eyed pirate's treasure actually made for a decent time.

He lost track of what was happening onscreen halfway through the movie. Buffy's hand had settled on his thigh and he could feel the heat through his jeans. He wasn't sure how much more of this he was going to be able to handle. Having her near without really having her was driving him nuts.

In an effort to pull his mind off of such dangerous thoughts, he said, "Have you decided when you're going to let the Scoobs know you're okay?"

"Trying to get rid of me already?" She asked, twisting around to be able to look at him.

"No, but you've been here for over three weeks and I know they're worried about you. I know I would be," he said, looking seriously at her. "I remember what it was like when you died. Since I couldn't reach you or talk to your friends, I spent five months worried sick."

Buffy sighed. "I'm so sorry about that. I just need a few more days before I call them. I'm still not ready to go back, but I think I can at least talk to them now. But I swear if they try to talk me into coming back I'm going to scream." Her eyes widened and she sat up. "What if they trace the call and come here? Jack, they can't come here! They'll try to drag me back and I'm not ready!"

"Buffy!" He said, grabbing her shoulders and turning her to face him. "Relax. You don't have to call, yet. But they could have traced your credit card for your plane trip or when you rented the car."

She shook her head. "I used cash, they can't trace it."

"You could always use a phone on base. They're secure," he said, dropping his hands from her shoulders to grasp her smaller ones.

"Wouldn't matter. Willow can track anything anywhere."

"Buffy, it's a top secret facility, there's no…"

"Trust me. She was good before she started using magic to help her." She sighed resolutely. "The call is just going to have to wait. I need to do this for me. For years my life has been about others, it's about time I focused on me."

Jack pulled her close and hugged her tightly. "Okay, we'll wait. Just don't let them worry for too long."


	10. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine **

Buffy froze as she felt the atmosphere shift. Her eyes swept the surrounding trees for… something. She wasn't quite sure what she was looking for, but something felt off. "Jeff, hush," she said, her grip tightening on her P-90.

He stopped and looked at her. "So now I'm boring you, too?" He asked, hurt coloring his voice.

"No, hush." She concentrated as he grew silent. His eyes widened as he took in her tense posture. Then she heard it, a snap hiss. A slight movement in the bushes caught her eye and she saw a glint of metal. She took off running and tackled Jeff just as she heard the staff weapon fire. They both grunted as they hit the forest floor.

"Dave, we're under attack," she called into her radio before firing off a few shots in the direction the blast had come from.

"What's your position?"

"I don't know, there's a bunch of trees. But I bet if you follow the sounds of gun shots you'll find us," she hissed, firing off another shot.

"We'll be right there. Do you know how many?"

"I've only seen two, but I think there's around ten."

Jeff looked at her in confusion. "How can you know that?"

"Long story," she said with a frown. "Come on. We've gotta move before they circle in on us." She grabbed him by his green jacket and hauled him to his feet. "We've got to get to the gate."

They took off running while Buffy occasionally fired off a few shots behind them. A Jaffa stepped in front of them and slammed a meaty fist into Jeff's face, knocking him to the ground.

Buffy ducked as the Jaffa swung its staff weapon and then gave him a swift uppercut, causing him to stagger back. She yanked the staff out of his hand and then brought it back down on his head. He collapsed unconscious to the ground and she turned back to Jeff, who was still sprawled out.

"Jeff, wake up," she said, patting his cheek. "Damn it." Into her radio she said, "Dave, where the hell are you? Jeff's out cold."

"Is it bad?"

"No, probably just a light concussion."

"We're on our way, Summers," he said and she could hear gunshots both through the radio and in the distance.

"I'm going to keep heading towards the gate," she said. "I've got Jeff with me."

"I thought you said he was unconscious!" Dave yelled, firing off another round.

"He is, but it's not a problem. We can't stay in this spot, it's not defensible," she said, looking around and seeing that they were in some sort of dip in the terrain. "Just catch up, we'll be fine."

With a grunt, Buffy slung Jeff over her shoulder and started running. It was awkward considering his height and her lack of it, but somehow she managed. Since she didn't sense any Jaffa nearby, but could still hear battle sounds, she guessed that Dave and Simon were keeping them occupied.

She had just reached the clearing that the stargate was located in when she heard Jeff moan and shift. "Don't move, Jeff. I'll put you down in a minute." Either he passed out again or decided to follow her instructions because he ceased moving.

When she reached the DHD, she gently set him on the ground. With a gentle hand, she inspected the bruise that was beginning to form on the side of his face. "Well, at least it'll be pretty," she said with a half smile.

"Did I get knocked out again?" He asked, wincing a little at the movement.

"I'm afraid so, but he _was_ very big."

"Apparently not too big for you to take down," he pointed out.

"Ah, but I'm trained to." Into her radio she said, "Dave, we're at the gate."

"Just about there. Dial it," Dixon barked.

She moved away from Jeff and dialed the address. The wormhole was established just as Dave and Simon came running into the clearing and she quickly sent her IDC. "We're clear!" She said, pulling Jeff to his feet and helping him towards the gate. She and Jeff went through the event horizon with Dave and Simon hot on their heels.

"Close the iris!" Dave said, emerging on the other side.

"Well that was fun," Buffy said just before she collapsed unconscious onto the ramp.

"Summers!" Dave said, rushing over to her prone form.

"Med team to the gateroom," Hammond called out over the intercom. "Colonel, what happened?"

"I don't know, sir, but she was hit in the hip by a staff blast," Dave said between clinched teeth. He glanced over at Jeff and saw the blood on his uniform but no obvious injury other than the bruise on his face. "I'm guessin' she carried Balinsky the entire way with the injury."

"What?" Hammond exclaimed.

"They were ambushed while we were doing a sweep," Dave said, stepping back so the med team could work. "Balinsky got knocked out and she carried him to the gate. She never mentioned that she was injured, sir."

Hammond nodded his head. "We'll brief later, Colonel."

"Thank you, sir."

XXXXXXXXX

Buffy opened her eyes to see Jack sitting in a chair next to her absently playing with a yo-yo. "Ow," she said, shifting slightly in the bed and causing pain to shoot down her leg.

Jack bounded out of the chair and wrapped her in a bone-crushing hug. "Thank god, you're okay." He placed a rough kiss on her cheek.

"Relax, Jack. I'm fine," she said, hugging him back.

"I know, but all I had heard was that you had been shot. It was… well, it was kind of… you know, scary," he said, pulling back and fumbling with his yo-yo again.

"Careful there, you were almost admitting feelings," she teased lightly in effort to lighten the mood.

"Finally awake, I see," Janet said, walking over to them. "How are you feeling?"

"My hip is sore, but other than that, I'm fine," Buffy said, completely honest about her condition for once. Jack had warned her that Janet had an unerring ability to sense when her patients were lying to her.

"That's to be expected. The wound was pretty severe," she said, checking Buffy's hands and face. "Your superficial scratches have all healed, but even with your natural abilities your hip will require a few days at least, going by what you have told me. And you'll need to stay on base for a few days."

"How're Jeff and the others?"

"Colonel Dixon and Airman Wells were uninjured, and other than a very minor concussion, Dr. Balinsky is just fine." She smiled at Buffy. "And from what I hear, that was largely in thanks to you."

Buffy blushed. "I was just doing what I always do."

"And I think it's wonderful," she said, patting Buffy on the knee. "I'm also pulling you from the duty roster for at least a week and a half."

"A week and a half! But…"

"Unless you want everyone to be suspicious about your abilities, it's the best I can do."

"Jack," she pleaded.

"She's right, Buffy. It was your decision to keep this a secret and you have to accept the consequences."

She pouted. "But, Jack…"

"No," he said, resolutely turning away. "I'm not fighting the Doc, I'm smarter than that."

"Fine, then move me in with Teal'c."

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Janet said slowly.

"T really isn't up to visitors or roommates," Jack explained.

"Well I don't care," Buffy said, crossing her arms over her chest in a defiant motion. "If I'm going to be stuck here for a few days then I want a roommate."

Janet and Jack exchanged a long look before the doctor sighed. "Very well, I'll arrange it," she said before turning and leaving.

"I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into," Jack said with a shake of his head. "On a good day Teal'c is laconic, but at the moment he's damn near mute."

"It'll be fine, you'll see," she assured him.

"Summers, you are in big trouble," Dixon said, walking over to Buffy and Jack. His arms were crossed and his large frame seemed to fill the curtained off area.

"Why?" She asked, clearly confused.

"That entire time we were out there you never mentioned that you were injured," he said, looking sternly down at her.

"Would it really have mattered? I mean, could you have gotten to us any faster? No. I just ignored it and did what needed to be done."

"That's not the point," Dave said.

Buffy looked over to Jack for clarification and he indicated that he wasn't going to get involved. She was part of Dixon's team and therefore was answerable to him. Jack really only needed to get involved if Dave stepped out of line – which wasn't likely. Plus, he was aware of the rumors flying around the base despite his best attempts to squash them. There was no need to add fuel to the fire. Besides, Buffy's little heroics with Jeff were going to help prove that she deserved her appointment.

"I am your commanding officer," Dave continued. "I need to stay completely aware of what is happening to my team while we're out in the field. What if you had collapsed sooner and injured Balinsky more? We would have had no idea of your location or situation. We would have lost precious time and possibly lives searching for you."

Her hazel eyes widened as the implications sunk in. She had just grown so accustomed to being the one that everyone depended on in the field that she had never thought about getting help.

Dave's eyes softened and a gentle smile played at the corners of his lips. He uncrossed his arms and leaned against the end of the bed. "All of that aside, Summers, you did real good. I'm glad you're on my team."

She could only nod her head as she played with the edge of her sheet.

"I'm not really mad, you just had us worried," he said. "When is the Doc releasing you?"

"Not for at least a week and a half," she said with a sigh.

He nodded. "Very well. Take it easy, okay?"

"I will."

"See you later, Jack," he said with a nod.

"Dave," Jack said as the other man left.

"Wow… I didn't think… huh," she said, her gaze on her fidgeting hands.

"He's just worried. We all were," Jack said before getting back up from his chair. "I'll go get you some Jell-o."

XXXXXXXXX

"Hey, Teal'c," Buffy said in greeting as the nurse wheeled her into the room Teal'c was staying in.

"Buffy Summers, I had heard you were injured in battle," he said.

"Just a staff blast to the hip. I'll be fine," she said cheerily. "Janet wants to keep me here for a few days to make sure I don't get an infection."

"Indeed."

"So how are you?"

"I am fine."

"Good, good.. So how is the treetoes stuff doing?" She asked.

"Tretonin. It does not assist my healing as well as my symbiote once did," he said, his eyes never looking over at her.

"Bummer. That's gotta suck."

"Indeed."

Buffy waited, but he didn't elaborate. She sighed softly to herself. This was going to be harder than she thought. Since she was going to be stuck on base for a while, she had wanted a more permanent roommate than the nursing staff so she could talk to someone if she was bored. And really, Jack had warned her but she still hoped for the best.

"Well, one good thing will come of this." When he never responded, she continued, "Jack will have to wait on me hand and foot for a while… Yup, my own personal slave… Get whatever I want…"

She looked over to see him still staring at the wall. He was making Oz look like a babbler. She was beginning to think that she would have been better off in the infirmary alone.

"Think we could get a TV in here with cable?" She asked hopefully.

"Buffy, Teal'c, how are you?" Daniel asked, entering the room.

"I am fine," Teal'c answered calmly.

"Having a blast," Buffy said dryly. "My first real injury in years and I'm stuck with no TV."

Daniel smiled. "I'm sure we could fix that."

"Really? Great."

"I hear you were quite the hero," Daniel said, sitting on a stool between the two beds.

"I guess," she said quietly. "Dave didn't seem to think so."

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"Because I endangered both me and Jeff since I didn't tell him I was injured. I just didn't want to worry Jeff. I wanted him to concentrate on getting out of there. He would have just fretted if he knew."

"Well, I don't know anything about that, but Colonel Dixon has been bragging that he's got the toughest person on base next to Teal'c on his team. He's been recounting the battle to anyone who'll listen."

She looked up at him in shock. "What?"

"Sounds to me like he's proud," Daniel said with a smile so genuine that she had to smile back. "Well, I just stopped by to see for myself that you were okay. I have to get back to work, but I'll be by later."

"Okay, and thanks, Daniel."

"You're quite welcome. See ya."

"What was Daniel Jackson referring to?" Teal'c asked.

"I knocked Jeff out of the way and got hit with the blast that would have killed him. Later, he got knocked out and I carried him back to the stargate," she said with a small shrug of her shoulders.

"It sounds as if you are a most honorable warrior. Colonel Dixon is indeed lucky to have you on his team."

"Thanks, Teal'c," she said and they both fell silent.

She took some time to think over what everyone had said. Dave definitely sounded like he wanted her to lean on the team if she needed it, for her to know that she wasn't out there alone. It was something that Jack and the Scoobies had been trying to drill into her head for years. It was only now that she understood. Or maybe it was just this place and the circumstances that shifted her perceptions.

No matter how much the Scoobies had learned in order to help her, it was still her out there on the front line day after day. Alone. They still looked to her to pull them through the worst, to do the dirty work. They all depended on her in the end.

Even now, with all of the slayers around the world, it seemed like they all looked to her. She no longer patrolled, but she was still the one they turned to during an apocalypse. How could she lean on them when they depended on her for protection? She was the slayer.

Here, she just happened to have abilities that gave her an advantage, but her teammates didn't treat her like she was someone special. They treated her as part of a team. They were there for her just as she was there for them. It was a strange feeling for her. This place and these people invoked a feeling of home that she had almost forgotten existed.

Perhaps she could stay here and never go back to Cleveland. To stay and be Buffy the woman and not Buffy the slayer. It was tempting. Very tempting.


	11. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten 

Buffy looked up as Teal'c was wheeled back into their room. She waited until he was situated and the nurses had left before asking, "How did your first physical therapy session go?"

"It went well."

"And," Buffy prompted after a minute.

"And what?"

"Do you feel any better? Does it still hurt? Was it boring?"

"It was therapy," he said flatly.

She sighed to herself. This was her third day of sharing a room with Teal'c and she had been unsuccessful in engaging him in a full-fledged conversation. Listening to Andrew's geek talk was preferable to the long silences she shared with her roommate. Thinking of her friends back in Cleveland she sighed again.

"Are you unwell, Buffy Summers?"

"No, why?"

"You were sighing."

"Just bored. I hate being cooped up inside like this," she said, tossing the magazine she had been reading to the end of her bed.

"Indeed."

"Every time I get seriously injured it just reminds me how frail I really am despite being the s…so fit. This just sucks."

"Indeed."

She turned to look at him and saw the tension in his jaw. "I'm sorry. This must be hard for you, too."

"It is," he reluctantly admitted.

Buffy sensed that there was more going on than what Teal'c was actually saying, but she didn't want to push it. This was the most she had gotten out of him. "Do you ever regret it?" She asked suddenly.

"Regret what?" He asked, looking at her for the first time.

"Coming here. Giving up your family and friends, everything you knew, to live on an alien world?"

"I do not."

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I loved my family was the reason why I came here. Helping the Tau'ri was a way to show my brothers that the Goa'uld were false gods and that one day we would be free. It was for them that I left."

"Makes sense," she said softly.

"Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering," she said with a shrug, before laying back and looking at the ceiling. She could feel his questioning gaze on her, but he thankfully didn't push. A flicker of a thought had been floating around her head since she had been injured, but she didn't want to vocalize anything until she made a decision. She just wasn't sure if she could leave behind the life she had known.

XXXXXXXXX

A few days later Jack frowned and yelled, "Buffy! Phone!"

She rushed into the kitchen. "Who is it?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask."

"Thanks," she said dryly, taking the phone out of his hand. "Hello?"

"Buffy, it's good to hear your voice again," said a male voice on the other end of the line.

"Okay, that's nice. Who is this?"

"Oh, for cryin' out loud! Unless you told the Scoobies where you are, who else knows you're staying there?"

"Jack!" She cried, causing the older one to look up.

"John, remember?" The now familiar voice said.

"Right, John," she said and Jack relaxed. "How are you?"

"I'm fine."

"Going crazy, yet?" She asked with a grin.

"Not really. School is a lot easier this time around. I think Daniel and Carter were a bad influence on me. My grades in history and science are really good."

"They were bound to rub off on you eventually," she said, ignoring Jack's strange look from his place on the other side of the kitchen. She moved to the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Eh, it's not too bad," he said with a small sigh. "I'm thinking about joining the Air Force again after I graduate.'

"Are you nuts?" Buffy cried.

"No," he said defensively. "I don't see what the problem is. It's the only thing I've ever been really good at."

"That's so not true, but think about this. You're a Colonel. Do you really think you could start at the bottom again?"

The silence on the other end stretched on for so long that Buffy grew worried. "John?"

"You're probably right," he said sullenly. "Well, enough about me, how are you? Still having nightmares?"

"Just one or two a week, now."

"That's good."

"Yeah, except I think the last one startled Teal'c."

"How is that possible? When did the two of you become roommates?" He asked in a strangled voice.

"Teal'c and I were sharing a room in the infirmary," she said, cringing as she waited for his response. He didn't disappoint.

"What! What happened?"

"Nothing we couldn't handle. Teal'c was hit with a staff blast in his pouch and I got it in the hip almost a week later."

"I leave and he lets everything go to hell. And you! You weren't supposed to get injured!"

"Right, so I should have just let Jeff die," she said in exasperation.

"Jeff? Jeff who?"

"Dr. Balinsky. He's on my team."

"Oh," he said. "Red hair, geeky guy, right?"

"John," she admonished.

"What? It's not like I use it in a mean way. Daniel's a geek and I still like him. There's nothing wrong with being a geek."

Buffy couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her lips as she heard his defensive tone. "You're a geek at school, aren't you? Admit it."

"Yes, but I'm a cool geek."

"I can't believe he's ruining my image," Jack said, walking into the room with Buffy's lunch.

"That's too funny," she said with a giggle.

"But you're seriously okay?" John asked.

"Slayer healing is definitely a plus. All healed, just a little soreness if I'm on my feet for too long."

"How about Daniel and Carter?"

"All in one piece," she assured him. "It helps that they're on stand down because of Teal'c. Daniel thinks he's starting to remember something important from when he was ascended."

"Do you really think you should be telling him that?" Jack asked her in a hushed tone.

Buffy put a hand over the mouthpiece and said, "Why not? He's you. If you were him, which technically you are, wouldn't you want to know?"

He gaped at her for a moment before shaking his head and getting up to go back to the kitchen.

"Sorry, John, but your other half was…"

"Trying to protect national security?"

"Yeah."

XXXXXXXXX

Buffy stood in the control room looking down at the spinning gate. SG-1 and SG-3 were about to embark on a rescue mission. Daniel had finally been able to hold on to the fragmented memory that had been eluding him. Bra'tac and Rya'c had been captured during a mission and were now being forced to work in a slave labor camp. Time was running out for them because Bra'tac only had a limited supply of tretonin and they had been taken over three months ago.

Teal'c had been cleared for active duty just the day before. Even without his symbiote, he had healed quickly thanks to the tretonin. Buffy was still on restricted duty so as not to raise suspicions, otherwise she was sure SG-13 would have been one of the teams assigned to accompany SG-1 rather than SG-2 and SG-3.

She knew she wasn't a hundred percent because of some residual aches in her hip, but it felt wrong to not be there to back Jack up. This was the first time that she had to watch Jack walk knowingly into a dangerous situation. The previous missions she had watched him leave on were all exploratory ones. There was always a chance of an ambush like on her last mission, but it was different when she knew he was walking into battle.

Absently she wondered if this is what Giles had felt every time she had gone out on patrol. How he had endured these stomach knots over the years was beyond her.

Beside her, Sam announced that the code to deactivate the shield on the other side had been sent. She got up from the computer and made her way to the gateroom. Buffy recognized the round object in Rak'nor's hand as a shock grenade a split second before he threw it into the event horizon. As soon as Sam entered the gateroom, Jack gave the order to move out. He looked up to the control room and gave Buffy a half smile and a reassuring nod. Then he stepped through the gate and he was gone.

After the last person stepped through, the event horizon winked out. Buffy couldn't stop the feeling of trepidation from forming in her gut. She just had a feeling that something was going to go wrong. She jumped slightly as General Hammond placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"They'll be fine. They're the best," he said before returning to his office.

She only wished she could believe him.

XXXXXXXXX

The klaxon sounded, signaling an incoming wormhole. The knots that had been in Buffy's stomach since Jack had left the day before had intensified. She had spent the sleepless night on base in the room Jack used on occasion. Her mind kept coming up with scenarios in which the rescue mission went wrong – each one worse than the one before.

As much as she wanted to go and make sure that he was alright and relieve her fears, a part of her held back. While the sharp pain of losing Dawn had receded to a dull ache, she wasn't ready to lose Jack, too. She knew she couldn't drag out the torture of not knowing for much longer, but as long as she was still ignorant of the success or failure of the mission, _he_ was still alive.

When she couldn't stand the suspense any longer, she made her way towards the infirmary. Since it was standard procedure to go there after every mission she figured that it would be the best place to catch up with them.

She had just turned down the hallway when she was an older man with a gold symbol on his forehead like Teal'c's being wheeled into the infirmary on a gurney. Teal'c was wheeled in next with a young man, who Buffy assumed was his son, by his side. Her heart froze in her chest as she took in Teal'c's battered form, but a satisfied smile was on his face as he looked up at his son.

Her heartbeat slowly returned to normal as she saw other members of the rescue team walk by unharmed – including Sam and Daniel. But her chest tightened again as there was no sign of Jack when the last person entered the infirmary. Had Jack been injured so badly that he had been wheeled in first? Was he dead and they were moving his body to the morgue?

Just when she thought her knees would go so weak that she'd collapse, the object of her worry came around the corner, whistling. "Jack!" She cried, running to him.

"Hey, Buffy," he said easily as she pulled him into a bear hug. "Air… I need air," he wheezed out.

"Sorry. It's just I was so worried," she said, checking him over for injuries. "What took you so long?"

"Ah, you know, plan A went to hell so we had to move to plan B. Of course, had to come up with a plan B fir…"

Jack's eyes widened as Buffy silenced him by pressing her lips to his. He was so startled that for a whole heartbeat he couldn't react. Then his hands seemed to move on their own accord as one slid to the small of her back to press her closer and the other entangled itself in her hair. Her lips parted, inviting him in deeper. Their tongues danced and Jack could feel the heat from her tiny form through his uniform as his eyes slid shut.

Then, as quickly as the kiss had started, it was over. Jack opened his lust-filled eyes to see Buffy staring at him shock. One of her hands came up to lightly touch her swollen lips. Then with speed and strength that only a slayer could possess, she slipped out of his arms and ran down the hall.

"Damn it," he muttered as she disappeared around the corner.

XXXXXXXXX

Daniel looked up from the file in his hands as he entered his office and froze. Of all the people he would ever expect to find waiting in his office, Buffy was not one of them. Her back was to him as she studied a vase on one of his shelves, but he could tell by her body language that she was upset about something. He guessed that she and Jack had a fight since the Colonel was snippy during the debriefing earlier.

"Hello," he said pleasantly, walking over to his desk.

She whirled around in surprise and gave him a half-hearted smile. "I hope you don't mind. I was just looking."

"Not at all. Find anything interesting?"

"This vase is Minoan isn't it?" She asked, indicating the one she had been looking at.

"Yes, it is. How did you know?"

"I have some really smart friends who've rubbed off on me," she said with a smile. "The geometric design, along with the bull, was kind of a dead give away."

Daniel blinked several times as he forced himself to reevaluate the woman in front of him. Until now, she hadn't really shown any… well, depth. Not that she came across as shallow and vapid, but she had never displayed any real interest in things outside of the SGC and Jack. But as he thought about it, he really shouldn't have been surprised. Despite all of Jack's protests to the contrary, he wasn't an idiot. Plus, the man had little tolerance for stupid people. Therefore, it only made sense that there was more to Buffy than what she showed on the surface.

He watched her return to her silent perusal of his office. "Any particular reason for the visit or are you just bored?"

Buffy gave her shoulders a slight shrug, but didn't turn back to look at him. She wasn't exactly sure why she was there herself. There was just something about Daniel's office that reminded her of home, or rather Giles' old apartment in Sunnydale. It made her feel comfortable and at the moment she needed something steady.

By some miracle, she had managed to avoid talking to Jack the previous night after kissing him. She made sure that she was thoroughly hidden until they had left late in the evening. With the combination of a sleepless night before, the crazy emotions, and the long day, she had fallen asleep almost instantly after buckling her seatbelt. Once they had arrived at Jack's, she'd stumbled off to bed without a word and went back to sleep.

That morning they shared a near silent breakfast and a silent ride to work. The silence was both killing and saving her. She missed the easy closeness that the two usually shared, but she didn't want to discuss the kiss because she didn't know why she did it.

What she really needed was to talk to Willow about this, but she wasn't available and to call her friend just to discuss the situation wasn't a viable option. Jack was her other confidant, but she couldn't sort out her feelings for Jack by talking to him. That was just silly. And talking to John would have been just as awkward. She was just so lost that she didn't know what to do.

Buffy jumped slightly as Daniel placed a hand on her shoulder. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't heard him approach.

"Want to talk?" He asked softly.

Her body betrayed her and nodded. He led her over to his couch and they both sat down. She took a deep breath and asked, "Have you ever done something, a something you've thought about doing on occasion but always talked yourself out of, and it was good, really good, but you instantly regretted it 'cause it can totally screw things up, but then again things could get better, but you're terrified about the entire thing?"

Daniel took a long moment to try and decipher what she had said before giving up. "Uhh, no? Wanna try and run that by me again, in English this time?"

She turned her hazel eyes that were filled with confusion and worry to regard him. "You have to promise not to repeat this to anyone. Not even Jack."

"Well, you've definitely got me intrigued, but yes, I promise."

Her eyes drifted away from his face to her hands that were fiddling with the edge of her green shirt. "I've always… At one time… I kind of…" She sighed loudly and stood up. Nervously wringing her hands, she began pacing. "I kind of kissed Jack yesterday."

"Big deal, I've seen you kiss him several times," Daniel said, a little confused.

"No, not a friendly peck, but as in a kissing type of kiss. And it was good, man can he kiss. Not that you really needed or wanted to know that," she said, catching Daniel's wince.

"Let me guess, you ran away and neither of you have talked about it," he said with a smirk.

"How'd you know?" She asked, stopping her pacing to look at him.

"Lucky guess." He frowned slightly as he mentally applied her earlier babble to the facts he now had. "Now you're worried that you've ruined your friendship even though in the past you've entertained thoughts of pursuing a romantic relationship with him."

Buffy's jaw dropped slightly. "You got all of that from me kissing Jack?"

"And your earlier statement."

"Oh, right." She resumed her pacing. "I just don't know how to fix this."

"You could just talk to him," Daniel pointed out.

"Umm, no."

"Why not?"

"You have met Jack, right? He's not really the share feelings type."

Daniel grinned. "True, but you should be able to pull it out of him."

"Yeah, but I don't know what I want his feelings to be."

"What do you mean?"

Buffy ran a hand through her loose hair and sat back down. "When I first met Jack, I was an emotional wreck due to all sorts of things and he helped to get me back on track. He was still happily married at the time, but then a year later Charlie died. I talked to him on the phone a little and then he disappeared. When he called again he sounded better even though he was going through a divorce."

She didn't exactly know why she was telling Daniel all of this, but it felt good to get all of it off of her chest. Once she had opened her mouth the words started pouring out and they wouldn't stop.

"Over the next several years, I seemed to reel from one catastrophe to another and Jack was my rock. Once my life started to straighten out, I realized that my feelings for him were more than just friendly, but I shoved them away. Our lives just weren't compatible."

Water filled her eyes and she hastily wiped a stray tear off her cheek. "But yesterday I was so worried when it took you guys so long to return and suddenly everything came back to the surface. When I saw him, it was like I couldn't stop myself. And it felt so right and then so wrong. Now I just don't know what to think or feel."

Daniel wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She tensed for a second before relaxing into him. "I think you need to talk to Jack, but you should understand your own feelings for him first."

"See my problem," she said with a sniffle.

"I do, and I sympathize. But I think you should just relax and let your heart lead you. Then be completely honest with him." Thinking on Jack's sour mood from earlier and the conversation they had had three weeks earlier, he added, "You never know, he might surprise you."


	12. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven 

"Doc give you the all clear?" Dave asked as Buffy finished stretching.

"I'm as good as new," she replied, giving her hip one last stretch.

"I have to admit that healing power of yours must come in pretty handy," he said, falling into an easy fighting stance when Buffy joined him on the mat. "I've never seen anyone except Teal'c heal that quickly."

"It's a bonus," she said with a smile.

"Either way, I'm glad that you're better. Now we can go on that mission tomorrow. I think that this planet is actually inhabited."

"Sounds like fun," Buffy said, sliding into her own fighting stance. Since joining his team, Dave had insisted that they spar once a week. He explained that he did this with Simon and Jeff as well so that he could be sure that they were all fit for travel. She saw the reasoning behind it so she didn't object. It gave her a chance to spar with someone competent and it helped her to learn more about Dave.

Dave stepped back out of the path of her fist. "How about that other thing that's bugging you?" He asked, trying to sneak in a punch to her midsection.

"What other thing?" She asked, easily blocking the punch.

"The some _thing_ that has upset you."

"What thing?"

He frowned and indicated for her to stop for a moment. "If I knew what was bothering you I wouldn't refer to it as the _thing_. But I'd be a poor leader if I didn't notice that you've been moping for three days."

"I haven't been moping," she said, crossing her arms defensively over her chest.

"Yeah, right, whatever. If not moping, then brooding."

Buffy's eyes narrowed. "I do not brood."

"Don't try to push that crap on me. Something has been bothering you and I don't want it to affect you out in the field," he said sternly.

"Thanks for the concern," she said dryly.

"Hey! It's not just your safety out there, but the entire team's," he said, his voice rising slightly. Then in a softer tone, "And I also just worry about you."

Her arms loosened and she dropped them back to her sides. "It's nothing. Just some personal stuff."

"It must be some pretty heavy personal stuff."

She smiled and moved back into her fighting stance. "It's nothing I can't handle. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"And you'll let me know if you can't?"

"Yes," she said, with a slight bob of her head.

He nodded his head in acceptance. The two quickly started trading blows again and before long they lost themselves in the rhythm. A thin sheen of sweat appeared on Dave's face as he tried to break through Buffy's defenses. Buffy, on the other hand, was barely breathing hard. After twenty minutes Dave called for a break.

"When are you going to stop holding back?" He asked, before taking a long drink of water.

She blushed slightly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Summers, I'm smarter than I look so don't patronize me. I get that you're stronger and tougher than you look. I saw it in your eyes when we first met and our last mission confirmed it." He used a small towel to wipe off his face. "We've been sparring for over a month and you haven't broken a sweat yet. Which means you're not pushing your limits, which means you've been holding back. Why?"

"I don't want to hurt you."

"How can I assess your skills if you don't put them all on the table?" He countered. "I don't know what it was like at your last job or whatever it was that you did, but _this_ is not a solo gig. It's teamwork. I'm the leader and I need to know what all of the members of my team are capable of. We depend on each other."

Buffy busied herself with tightening her ponytail and then going for her bottle of water. Her back was to him when she spoke. "For years I've been the one that everyone has counted on and the one they blamed when things didn't go well. It's been a long time since I've fully depended on someone else in the field. You'll have to forgive me if I don't remember how just yet. But I have to hold back when we spar or I _will_ hurt you. And I don't want to do that."

There was a long pause and she could hear him stepping back onto the mat. "I can understand, but how about this. It sounds like your problem is with trust inside the teamwork, so we'll work on that, starting with the sparring. You stop holding back so much and I'll let you know when you start pushing my limits. I don't particularly want to get hurt either."

A small snort escaped Buffy's lips. "But…"

"No buts, Summers. Trust has to start somewhere."

"You're right," she said with a nod. This session had ended up being was more revealing than she liked, but Dave was offering her something she had been sorely lacking for quite some time – to be part of a team.

She rejoined him on the mat and shot him a smirk that Spike would have been proud of. "Alright, Dave. Let's dance."

XXXXXXXX

Daniel was becoming increasingly irritated. Jack's bad mood from three days ago had gotten much worse. People scurried out of his way and kept all contact with him to a minimum. His attitude towards Daniel and Buffy was the worst. She was coming to his office at least twice a day nearly in tears and had taken to staying on base. As for him, it wasn't that Jack wasn't being civil to him; it was that he wasn't speaking to him at all.

Now that Buffy had left on her latest mission, Daniel decided it was time to confront Jack. His current problem was that he couldn't find him. Daniel had checked all of the gyms, the room where Jack and Teal'c played ping-pong, Sam's office, Jack's office, and any other random room he could think to check. The emptiness of his final place to look confirmed his worse fear – Jack was no longer on base.

That meant he was probably at home brooding, which was never a good sign. With a long-suffering sigh, he left the base and drove to Jack's. When the older man didn't answer the door, Daniel let himself in with his copy of the key.

"The door was locked for a reason," Jack said in a low voice as Daniel walked into the living room.

"Too bad," Daniel said, sitting on the couch. From the looks of the room, Jack had drunk a lot of beer over the past few days.

"I don't want to talk so you can just leave."

"Why are you being such an ass?"

Jack glared at him. "As if you didn't know."

"I don't."

"You do, too. If I want to be a mean hearted bastard, I can. Now just go."

"You're really hurting Buffy," Daniel said.

For the first time, pain flickered across Jack's face. "Yeah, well that can't be helped."

"Jack…"

"She's got you to make it all better anyway, so what does it matter?" Jack asked sullenly, taking a swig of his beer.

"What does that mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Daniel, it doesn't suit you."

Daniel gave his friend a disbelieving look. "I have _no idea_ what you're talking about."

"Oh please. I don't know what's worse – the fact that the two of you hid it from me or that you're denying it now!"

"Jack," Daniel said slowly as if he were speaking to a child, "what are you talking about?"

"You and Buffy."

"What about us?"

"I saw you the other day… cuddling," Jack said sourly, taking another drink of his beer.

Daniel wracked his brain and suddenly deduced what Jack's problem was. An amused smile played at his lips. "Ah."

"Not that I blame her really," Jack was muttering, oblivious to Daniel's sudden understanding. "I mean you're young and good looking. And I know why you like her, 'cause who wouldn't. She's so easy to lo…" He sighed and took a long drink from his beer.

"Jack, you've got the wrong idea. Buffy and I were only talking… about you."

"Huh?"

"She was upset and needed someone to talk to." He sent Jack a pointed look. "And she's done it several times over the past few days."

"You really aren't…"

"No."

"You haven't been…"

"No."

"That was just…"

"Yes."

"Then I just imagined…"

"Emphatic yes there."

"I'm such an ass," Jack said, wearily rubbing his eyes. "I need to apologize to her."

"Can't at the moment. She's off-world."

Jack looked at him in shock. "No! She hadn't been medically cleared yet."

"Janet cleared her yesterday."

"Oh crap. I wasn't there, and I've… Damn it!" He stood up and started to clean up. He stopped and turned to Daniel. "What did she say about me?"

"I promised I wouldn't tell."

"It was about the kiss, wasn't it?" Jack ruefully shook his head. "I shouldn't have kissed her back, but I wasn't thinking. I've wanted… She's so beau… Damn it."

Daniel watched Jack carry empty bottles to the kitchen. "You should talk to her about it," he called after him.

"She obviously doesn't want to; why else would she have run?" Jack sadly asked, coming back into the living room to pick up more bottles.

"I don't know, other reasons," Daniel said, his voice prompting Jack to think more.

"Can't you just tell me?" He whined.

"No," Daniel said, standing up and heading to the door. "But if you think really hard, you'll figure it out. And when you do, I'm sure you'll understand and relate."

Jack watched Daniel leave and then stared at the closed door. He should have known better, neither one of them were like that. Plus, Buffy had just kissed him. True, she had run away immediately afterwards, but she had kissed him.

But why did she run? Was it that bad? He'd never had any complaints before. Maybe he had bad breath or something.

No, there had been something in her eyes that day now that he was thinking clearly about it. There had been surprise and fear. Did she not mean to kiss him? Maybe she was afraid that he would be mad. That couldn't be it. She would have known he wasn't mad because he had returned the embrace. It had to be something else that she was afraid of.

His eyes widened. She was afraid of him, afraid that he did reciprocate her feelings. It meant things would change between them. He would go from a safe friend to someone who would hurt her in the end. He would never do that, but she believed it was possible because of her track record. And he already proved that he could hurt her because of his stupid jealous behavior over the past few days.

He needed to quickly repair the damage he had done. Only then could he come up with a plan for making her his.

XXXXXXXX

Buffy opened the door to her room on the base and noticed an envelope on the bed. Her face a mask of confusion, she closed the door and crossed to the bed. She recognized Jack's careful printing on the outside and briefly considered holding off on reading it until the morning. SG-13's successful mission had brightened her mood and she didn't want to ruin it. But curiosity won out.

She unlaced her combat boots and threw them into a corner of the room. She made herself comfortable on the bed before she opened the letter.

_Dear Buffy, _

_There's nothing I can really say to excuse my behavior towards you over the past several days. All I can tell you is that I'm an ass and I thought that there was something going on that wasn't. Rest assured that Daniel set me straight and all that's left is to apologize. I'm sorry that I took my feelings of an imagined situation out on you and I hope that one day you'll forgive me. _

_As for now, I would like for you to return to staying at my house. I've missed you, but I'll understand if you're not ready. I'll be waiting at my truck after work. If you're ready I'll see you there, if you're not then I guess I won't. _

_Jack_

Buffy's eyes blazed as she set the letter down and went to retrieve her boots. She fumed as she roughly pulled them on and went storming out of her room. Of all the nerve!

On another floor she entered the office belonging to the object of her ire and slammed the door shut. "How dare you!"

"Huh?" Daniel asked, looking up from his work.

"You told Jack!"

"Told Jack what?" He asked, his brain not switching from his work to Buffy fast enough.

"About my feelings for him," she said, shaking Jack's letter at him

Daniel took the letter and quickly skimmed over it. To Buffy's surprise he started laughing.

"This isn't funny! You betrayed my trust!"

"No, I didn't," Daniel said with a shake of his head. He handed the letter back. "Jack and I did talk about you, but it wasn't what you think. Jack thought that you and I were sneaking around."

Her jaw dropped. "He didn't? Why would he think that?"

"He must have seen me comforting you that first day. But that's all we talked about, I promise."

"Oh… Sorry, about the yelling and Jack."

"I'm used to it." He adjusted the glasses on his face and asked, "Are you going to meet him?"

Buffy looked down at the letter and shrugged. "Yeah… maybe…. I don't know."

"You missed him."

"Duh."

"Think of it this way. He apologized. Jack almost never does that."

XXXXXXXXX

Jack morosely watched the sun set from his position next to the cab of his truck. He had been waiting for twenty minutes and Buffy still hadn't shown up. Maybe he had pushed things too much; he should have just left it at the apology. Hell, maybe he should have apologized in person. He just wasn't sure of the correct course; he had never been in this position with Buffy before.

"Going my way?"

He spun to see Buffy standing at the end of the truck. For a moment he was struck by how tiny she was, she was just inches taller than the side of the bed. "Hey," he said softly.

Buffy took a few tentative steps towards him. "Sorry, I'm late, but I had to pack a few things."

"No, I'm the one who's sorry," he said, taking the last few steps to close the distance. "I…"

"It's okay, you're forgiven," she said with a small smile.

"But I don't de…"

"Jack, quit while you're ahead."

"Right," he said with a small smile. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," she said, starting to walk to the other side of the truck. He followed her to open the door and helped her in.

"So, I heard the last mission was a good one," he said once he had got in the cab and buckled up.

"It was," she said, a grin forming. "We met some wonderful people who we can help. They were so nice and giving even though they had so little."

"Feels good, doesn't it?" He asked, maneuvering the large truck down the road.

"It does. I usually don't get to meet the people I help or get a thank you." She looked over at him. "I need a favor."

"Anything."

"I'm going to call Willow tomorrow and I'll need your help."

"With what?" He asked.

"Convincing the Scoobies to not come after me when I tell them that I'm not going back. Ever."


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve**

Jack looked at Buffy who was sitting next to him on the couch. "Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked, concern shining in his brown eyes.

"Which part? Calling Willow or staying here?" she asked, her gaze on the phone clutched tightly in her hands.

"Both parts."

"Yes. I'm positive."

He waited a few minutes before he said, "I was just checking 'cause you've been holding that phone for fifteen minutes now and you haven't dialed."

"I know," she said irritably. "I'm just…"

"It's okay, take your time," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and squeezing slightly.

She took a deep breath and held it for a moment before releasing it slowly. With a deliberate movement, she dialed Willow's number in Cleveland, and then held the receiver up to her ear. She closed her eyes and waited for someone to answer.

"Hello?"

Buffy smiled at Willow's familiar voice and opened her eyes. "Hey, Willow."

"Oh my goddess, Buffy! Where have you been? Where are you now? Are you okay? Are you coming home now? What…"

"Willow! Breathe," Buffy said with a small laugh. "I'm fine."

"We were so worried. Xander wanted to track you down, but I convinced him to respect your wishes. I mean we were all worried but you said that you would contact us in your letter. But then time went on and he got antsy, but I still held firm."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. I just needed some time away," Buffy said sadly. "How is everyone?"

"We're good. We miss you."

"I miss you guys, too."

"Are you coming home soon?" Willow asked hopefully.

Buffy winced and her eyes flickered briefly over to Jack. "Yeah, about that, umm…"

"It's okay if you're not ready," Willow said hastily. "Take all the time you need. So where did you go?"

"To visit an old friend of mine," Buffy said, leaning against Jack.

"Hey! I'm not old!" Jack protested softly.

She rolled her eyes and slapped him lightly on the knee as Willow asked, "Who?"

"I met him in LA during _that_ summer and we've just kept in touch." She gripped Jack's hand. This was it. The cat was going to be out of the bag. "His name is Jack O'Neill."

"You've never mentioned him before." Buffy could almost hear Willow's pout on the other side.

"I know, but it was this big secret thing that's kind of hard to explain. But he's a good guy."

"How good?" Willow asked with a teasing note in her voice.

"Willow!"

On the other end of the line, Willow laughed. "A definite hottie then?"

"Well, yeah," Buffy said with a slight blush. Jack gave her a questioning look but didn't say anything.

"So what have you been doing with Jack?"

"Actually… working."

"Working? Where?" Willow asked, surprise evident in her voice.

"I can't tell you, but Jack got the job for me."

"Buffy, what are you into?"

The slayer sighed. "I really can't tell you, at least, not yet. But it's good."

"What? Is he trying to steal you from us?"

"It was just supposed to be temporary," Buffy said defensively. She snuggled into Jack a little more as Willow fell silent on the other end.

"_Was_ temporary? Meaning it's not now?" Willow asked in a small voice.

Buffy's heart broke slightly knowing that she was hurting her friend, but she needed to do this. "Willow, they need me here."

"We need you, too."

"No, you don't. Not really."

"What about the next big apocalypse?"

"Faith or one of the others can handle it," Buffy said. "That's what they are there for."

"No! We need…"

"And _I_ need to be here," Buffy said, cutting her off. "_I_ need this. I'm making a difference here."

"So you're just going to abandon your calling?" Willow accused.

"No, just altering it."

"Xander was right," Willow said angrily. "We should have tracked you down and brought you back. If we had, you wouldn't be abandoning us now!"

"You're one to talk! What about kicking me out of my own house when I needed you the most?" Buffy said, tears springing up in her eyes.

"Has this Jack guy brainwashed you against us? That's the only reason I can think of why you'd do this."

Buffy looked up at Jack with her tear-streaked face. "I can't do this," she whispered, dropping the phone and running back to her room.

Jack picked up the phone. "Willow? This is Jack."

"Ah ha! You were right there beside her! Did you make her do this? Did you brainwash her?"

"I didn't make Buffy do anything. You, of all people, should know that you can't force her to do anything she doesn't want to do," he said, straining to keep a civil tone.

"Buffy needs to come home."

"I think she needs to do what is best for her."

Willow snorted. "Like you would know anything about that."

"Hey!" Jack said, his voice becoming deeper. "I know that she has spent the past ten years fighting someone else's war. That she has made more sacrifices in that time than most people make in a lifetime. She has died twice, and watched her loved ones die. She's been betrayed several times over by her friends, you being one of them. And _you_ have the nerve to try and dictate _her_ life?"

Jack's temper had flared and eight years worth of pent up anger at Buffy's friends found its outlet. "I think it was high time to let her make her own decisions about her life."

"Like you're letting her make her own decisions? You got her that job," Willow shot back.

"I just gave her a temporary opportunity. I didn't pressure her, she made her own decision. I never asked her to stay permanently, she decided that on her own. She's a grown woman, she can do that," he practically growled.

Willow fell silent on the other end. Sniffles could be heard and Jack fought back the guilty feeling about making a woman he hadn't even met cry. He reined in his temper and wearily rubbed his eyes.

"Look, take a few weeks to adjust to this and I'll get Buffy to call you again. But you can't do this to her again. If you push, she'll just keep running. You know that."

"I do," Willow said softly. "It's just that we miss her."

"She misses you, too. Just give her time."

"Do you really think she's going to stay there?" Willow hesitantly asked.

"I think so."

"Take care of her."

"I will," Jack promised. They made a few more arrangements, said their goodbyes, and hung up. He returned the cordless phone to its stand and went to Buffy's room. The door was slightly ajar so he pushed on it slightly to reveal Buffy curled up on her bed with her back to the door crying.

It pained him to see her hurting like this. She always put on such a strong façade that sometimes it was easy to forget just how fragile she was. To think that her friends, her support, could reduce her to this so easily made him see red. He wanted nothing more that to beat the crap out of her friends, but restrained himself because she needed him more.

Jack quietly walked to the bed and sat down. He leaned against the headboard and stretched his long legs out. Buffy rolled over and snuggled up to him. He wrapped his arms around her and began to idly play with strands of her blonde hair.

"So when are they coming?" She asked, her voice slightly muffled from where she had buried her face in his shirt.

"They're not. I talked her out of it," he said.

She looked up at him in surprise. "They're not? You did? How?"

"I explained in my manly colonel voice that it was your life and you could do what you wanted with it," he said with a small smirk. "Then I might have made her cry."

"Oh, Jack," she said disapprovingly.

"What? She made you cry! I thought it was only fair."

"What about the others?" She asked, resting her head on his chest.

"I don't know. Maybe she won't tell them."

Buffy laughed softly. "It will never happen. Willow is horrible at keeping secrets from her friends. They could just glance at her and she'll go into full babble mode with no hope for return." She sighed. "They'll probably track us down and show up here to drag me back."

He tightened his hold. "Never happen. I won't let them take you. Even if they could take me down they'd have to fight everyone else."

"Like who?"

"Like Daniel, for starters. Hammond, Dixon, Jeff, Sam, Teal'c…"

"Okay, I get the picture," she said, a slight blush creeping up on her cheeks. "I'm a valuable member of the SGC now."

"No, that's not just it," Jack said irritably. "You don't seem to realize how much people like you. You're fun, beautiful, intelligent, and caring. We only want to see you happy. If that means fighting off your friends from home so you can do what you want, then that's what we'll do."

Buffy's blush grew darker. It was always so hard to accept compliments so she busied herself by playing with one of the buttons on Jack's shirt. "Thanks," she said softly after a moment.

"Don't mention it," he said gruffly.

"Is this okay with you? Me staying here permanently, I mean?"

"Sure it is. Why wouldn't it be?" He asked in confusion.

"Well, this is your life. I didn't know if this felt like I was intruding or something. I kind of decided this without discussing it with you first."

He placed a finger under her chin and tilted her head up to look at him. "It's not a problem. I'm ecstatic that you've decided to stay. Who knows, having a slayer on our side could change the tide."

"As long as you're sure," she said.

"Yeah sure you betcha," he replied with a grin, releasing her chin.

Buffy settled back down and said, "I guess I should find a place of my own then, huh?"

Jack's heart tightened painfully at the thought. "Only if you want to," he said, twirling a lock of her golden hair around his fingers. Inside he was fervently praying that she'd decide to stay with him. The house had seemed so quiet and empty without her last week. He had hated it.

"I don't want to intrude."

"Buffy, you're not intruding. I like having you here. Stay as long as you want," he said, his voice rather insistent.

"Okay," she said, causing his heart to unclench.

Several hours later, Jack awoke to find he was still in Buffy's room. His neck and back were screaming in protest from sleeping in the strange half sitting position. He was loath to move however because Buffy's warm body was still pressed against his.

It wasn't the first time this had happened, but he cherished each time like it was the first. She looked so peaceful in her sleep when she didn't have all the worries and pressures of keeping the world safe sitting on her shoulders.

His back sent out another screaming protest and he knew it was time to break the moment if he wanted to be able to walk the next day. Carefully disentangling himself, he got off the bed. He pulled the blanket from the edge of the bed up to cover her sleeping form.

He bent over and brushed a few stray hairs off her face before kissing her cheek. "Good night, sweetheart." Then he silently went to the door, turned off the lights, and went to his own room.

XXXXXXXXX

Jack stared at his reflection in his bedroom mirror as he constantly adjusted his clothing. He hated to admit it, even if it was just to himself, that he was nervous as hell. He was about to change his relationship with Buffy. He was going to ask her on a date.

Even if she said no, this was going to change things. It would forever be a silent, invisible wall between them. Of course, he hoped she would say yes, but that would mean a change as well. If they entered a romantic relationship only to break up later, he'd be losing the best friend he ever had.

This was one of the toughest decisions he had ever made, but he wasn't going to back out now. He was just so damn nervous.

It had been twenty years since he had asked someone out. What if he had forgotten how? What if he made a complete fool of himself?

God this was hard.

Jack looked his reflection squarely in the eye and took a calming breath. "Pull yourself together. You can do this," he muttered. "Just like falling off a log."

Satisfied with himself, he turned and then jumped in surprise. Buffy was leaning against the door jam with a smirk on her face.

"Talking to yourself? Isn't that the first sign of senility?"

"Ha, ha, it is to laugh," he said dryly, trying to calm his racing heart. He wondered how much of that pep talk she had witnessed.

She grinned. "Dinner is ready," she said, pushing herself off the frame and leaving the room.

He exhaled loudly and followed her.

XXXXXXXXX

Dinner seemed to pass all too quickly for Jack and the next thing he knew the table had been cleared and dinner cleaned up. As he sat down with Buffy to play Rummy, he realized that it had passed in a blur and he didn't really recall anything from it. Now time seemed to slow to a crawl as he waited for the perfect opportunity to ask her.

"Is there something wrong?" She finally asked.

"No, why?" He replied, looking at her from over top of his cards.

"I've won three hands in a row," she stated flatly. "I've never done that before. You're not even paying attention."

"I am so," he protested, laying down the five of clubs.

She rolled her eyes and picked up several cards from the discard pile. "No, you're not." She laid the five down on her side, along with the four and six of clubs, all of which had been in the discard pile. "What's up?"

"I've been thinking," he said, taking a card from the deck. He barely looked at it before throwing it on the discard pile.

"Thought I smelled something burning," Buffy quipped, drawing a card from the deck.

"Funny," he said, watching her as she made a decision about the card. "I was thinking that we should go out and do something one night."

"What? Like a movie?" She asked, keeping the card and discarding another.

"Something like that, yeah," he said. He set his cards face down and gave her his full attention.

"Sure. Do you want to see if the others want to join us when we go?"

He laughed nervously. "No, I want this to be just the two of us. Alone. Together."

Buffy froze. Her eyes widened slightly. "You mean, like a date?"

"Exactly."

"You want to go on a date? With me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Jack blinked in slight confusion. "Because… Well, because I'm attracted to you. Have been for some time now, to tell the truth. Just thought that…"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes," she repeated, a shy smile appearing on her lips.

"Sweet."


	14. Chapter Thirteen

In this chapter I mention a show that probably wouldn't have been on during the year that this was sent, nor during the same months. Let's pretend that it is. :D

**Chapter Thirteen**

Buffy sneaked a look at Jack through her lashes. He seemed to be much more relaxed than she was. When she'd agreed to go on this date, it had seemed like a good idea. Now that she was on said date, she wasn't so sure.

She had been thrilled to learn that Jack was attracted to her. It meant that she wasn't alone with these feelings. Here was a man who had seen her at her worst and still wanted her. He was handsome, kind, funny, and strong in more ways than one. When she was around him, she felt safe and free. She didn't have to be anyone but herself.

But suddenly she didn't know how to act or behave. They were in his truck en route to the first stop of their date. It was the first step in their new relationship and she found herself floundering. She didn't want to screw this up.

"Hey, you're not having second thoughts are you?" He asked hesitantly.

She could see the look of trepidation in his eyes so she smiled, "No, it's just…"

"Kind of strange," he supplied.

"Yeah. I know how… or…"

He reached over and took her hand. He gave her as much attention as possible while still keeping an eye on the road. "Me, too. But it will be fine. Fun, even. Just relax."

"Right, relax. I don't even know where we're going," she reminded him. All he had told her was to dress warmly and not to worry about getting dolled up for him. Not that he wouldn't appreciate it, but it wouldn't fit with what he had planned. That, more than anything, kind of scared her.

So she had dressed in a comfortable pair of jeans and a sweater. She had messily pulled her hair back in a claw clip and put on just enough make-up to naturally enhance her features. She'd felt a little dowdy, but that had changed when Jack's eyes had lit up when he saw her. Maybe he was seeing something she wasn't and she stopped worrying about her clothes for the evening.

"I know," he said, grinning cheekily at her.

"You're doing this just to irritate me, aren't you?" she shrewdly asked, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Would I do that?"

"Yes, you would," she said in exasperation. "Just be thankful I like you, otherwise you'd be hurting."

"I am, always," he said, a twinkle in his brown eyes.

Buffy couldn't help but grin back at him. Their banter had eased her nerves and she leaned back in her seat with her hand firmly entwined with his.

A few minutes later, Jack pulled the F-250 into a gravel parking lot next to a warehouse type building. There were several other vehicles parked there. He reluctantly released her hand and got out of the truck. Buffy had just got her door opened when he had reached her and helped her out of the large truck.

"Jack, where are we?" She asked. Her booted feet shifted and the gravel crunched under her feet.

"Poor observation skills," he tsked at her.

Her hazel eyes swept the area, but didn't see anything. "All I see are the cars, the building, and a decrepit sign that you can't read."

"Guess you'll just have to wait until we're inside," he said, taking her hand and placing it in the crook of his arm. They made their way across the parking lot to the metal doors. He carefully watched her face as she finally understood.

"Really?" She squealed.

"Really," he said, leading her to the desk. He paid for their skate rental and they sat down on a nearby bench to change their footwear.

"This is great! I haven't been skating in years," Buffy gushed, tying up her laces.

He grinned. "I know. Thought it might be fun. It's been a while for me, too." He stood and helped her to her feet, and then he took their shoes and placed them in a locker.

Buffy openly admired him as he walked away. His red fleece pullover ended just below his waist, leaving her with a perfect view of how well his jeans hugged his butt. She pouted slightly when he obscured her view by turning back around.

"What?" he asked, walking back over to her.

"Oh, nothing," she said with a wicked grin. "Come on, let's skate," she said, pulling him towards the ice. Before they stepped onto the ice, Buffy stopped and gave Jack a mischievous look. "Sure you can handle this?"

"What do you mean?" He asked, a little offended.

"I meant the toe pick. You saw what happened to Kristy last week on 'Skating with Celebrities'. I'd hate to see you fall on your face."

He rolled his eyes. "Just because most of my experience comes from hockey, doesn't mean I don't know about toe picks. I've used figure skates before."

"Good," she said with a cheeky grin and she stepped onto the ice. "I'd hate for my date to embarrass me," she said with a sly wink before taking off.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that," he said, charging onto the ice after her.

It took him two laps around the rink to catch her, but he finally did. Although he got the distinct impression that she let him catch her. She wasn't going nearly as fast as he thought she could, and it _had_ been a while since he had gone skating.

He wrapped his arms around her and proceeded to tickle her and was blessed with the sound of her laughter. In his opinion it was something that she didn't do often enough and he was going to try and change that.

"Okay! Okay! I give! Uncle!" She gasped and he released her.

"Serves you right," he said with a grin. Then holding hands they began a more leisurely pace around the ice.

The rink was fairly old and didn't have all of the bells and whistles that the new one downtown had; therefore, it wasn't as crowded as it had been back in its heyday. But it was still well kept, and the staff was friendly so there were a few regulars. Since there were only a handful of people there, it almost felt like they were alone on the ice.

When they stepped off the ice two hours later, their faces were flushed from the chilly air and the smiles they couldn't keep off their faces.

"That was so much fun," she gushed as they sat down to take off their skates. "We'll have to do that again."

"Sure, only next time you need to wear a little skating outfit so your skirt flares when you spin. Which was quite impressive, I must say."

"The results of a misspent youth," she said sagely.

"I don't know. I think Dorothy Hamill would have been proud. She's a gusher, if you haven't noticed," he said in a conspiratorial tone.

"You weren't too bad yourself," she said, bumping his shoulder lightly with her own.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't call the Olympic committee just yet," he said with a laugh. "Hungry?"

"Starved," she said.

"Great. I know the perfect place," he said, taking their skates back to the desk.

XXXXXXXXXX

Fifteen minutes later, Jack pulled the truck into another gravel parking lot. A rather small, unassuming building that accompanied it had a simple sign that read "Backwood's Grill".

"I don't think you've mentioned this place before," Buffy said.

"It's because I've kept it my little secret. Kind of like you."

"Does that mean…"

"No, I've never mentioned it to or brought the team here."

A shy smile crept across Buffy's lips as she leaned over to place a soft kiss on his lips. "Thanks," she said, only inches from his face.

He grinned and kissed her back. "You're quite welcome."

They got out of the truck and went inside. Buffy looked skeptically around the small restaurant. A U-shaped bar took up most of the front room. The young man behind the counter looked up and waved. "Hey, Jack. They've got your table waiting."

"Thanks, Matt," Jack said, and he led her to an adjoining room. A small table next to a window had a reserved sign on it and he headed towards it.

"Jack, there's a deer head hanging on the wall," she said softly as he held out the chair for her.

"It's not real," he assured her. The words were whispered in her ear and it caused her to shiver. He stepped back and continued his explanation as he moved to his own seat. "It dances when music plays on the jukebox."

Buffy raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, it's ambience and you've spent too much time with Teal'c," he teasingly accused. "Besides, it's rarely turned on and when it is on, it's easy to ignore."

"Okay," Buffy said, looking at him like he was crazy.

A tall brunette came over and smiled at them. "So this is the lucky girl you've been hiding from us. She's a cute one, I'll give you that." She winked at Buffy. "Keep this one. He's a real sweetie."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Can you just get us our drinks, Jayme?"

"Sure. You want your usual?"

"Nah. I think I'll stick to the Pepsi."

"Okay, and you?" Jayme asked, looking at Buffy.

"Diet, please."

"I'll get those right out to ya," she said, handing them menus. Then she left them alone.

"So, you come here a lot, huh?" Buffy asked opening her menu.

"When I can," he replied, not even bothering to look at his. "I usually sit at the bar and give Matt a hard time. He's a good kid."

"Gives you free beer, doesn't he?" She shrewdly asked.

"As long as I'm paying for a meal, yeah," he replied with a grin.

A few minutes later, Jayme came back with their drinks. She took their orders and then left. They were alone and once again Buffy felt a momentary awkwardness. It wasn't the first time they had gone out to eat together, but it was their first date. At least, she didn't have to worry about lying about her life or if he was lying about his. This should have been more relaxing than most first dates but it wasn't.

She looked out the window but couldn't see anything in the darkness except her reflection in the window. Shifting her gaze, she could see Jack's reflection as well. He was staring at her with a slightly goofy smile on his face.

"What?" She asked self-consciously, turning to look him in the eye.

"Nothin'. Just happy," he replied, the grin not leaving his face.

"Oh," she said softly, a light blush creeping up her cheeks. How was he always able to get her to do that so easily? "Busy place for ten o'clock," she commented.

"It's like this six days a week, and they don't do any advertising. This is all word of mouth."

Her jaw dropped as she looked around. All of the tables were full and crowded together. "How?"

"The food is that good, and the people that work here are great," Jack replied.

"Hiya, Jack," said a younger woman who had her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. "Where have ya been for the past few months?"

"Busy. Caitlin, this is Buffy. Buffy, this is Caitlin. Her cousin owns the restaurant and is the head cook," Jack explained.

"Nice to meet you," Buffy said.

"So this is the girl you've been talking about," Caitlin said in wonder.

Buffy shot Jack an amused look. "Been talking about me?"

"Maybe… A little," he said, his face turning red.

"A little? Ha!" Caitlin said with a laugh. She leaned over to Buffy. "He's been telling us for years that he's crazy about this blonde. That's she smart _and_ sexy, but she doesn't live here. He promised us that the first woman he brought here would be her."

"And I'm the first?" Buffy asked with a smirk. Jack had his face buried in his hands.

"Yeah." She looked at the beeper on her little apron. "Got an order ready. Just to warn ya, all the waitresses will probably be by at some point in time tonight. They just want to make sure you're good enough for Jack."

"And am I?" Buffy asked.

Caitlin made a show of looking Buffy over. She smiled and said, "I'm thinking we should be more worried if he's good enough for you."

"Hey!" Jack protested, finally looking at them.

Buffy laughed as Caitlin went to take care of a customer. "Are they like that with everyone?"

"With the regulars, yeah. Sorry."

"It's okay," she said, still laughing. "But I can sort of see why you like this place now."

He looked hopefully at her. "And do you like it here?"

She saw Caitlin smile and talk to a customer, and Matt greeting another customer as they walked in. "It's growing on me."

XXXXXXXXXX

Jack and Buffy slowly made their way up the walk to his door. Dinner had passed pleasantly and Buffy found the entire wait staff amusing as they each took turns coming over to meet her.

They stopped at the door with only a small light casting a soft glow around them. Jack cleared his throat and said, "Normally this is where I'd tell my date that I had a good time, kiss her goodnight, and then head home after promising to call."

"But…"

"I've never asked a woman I was sharing a house with out before. Kind of messes with the date pattern," he confessed.

Buffy inched closer and slid her arms around his waist and looked up at him through her lashes. "Let's say we do that goodnight kiss and then pretend that I invited you in for coffee."

"That sounds like a good plan," he said as he slowly bent down to kiss her.

She gasped slightly as the light brush of his lips caused tingles to go down her spine and clear to her toes. He took advantage of her parted lips to slip his tongue into her mouth and she could faintly taste the coffee he had had with dessert.

He broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. "Inside?" He softly asked.

"Oh, yeah," she said breathlessly, reaching up to place a chaste kiss on his lips.

Keeping his left arm wrapped around her, he unlocked his door with his right. He ushered her in and shut the door behind them. His house was quite warm so he broke contact to remove his red fleece pullover. After shaking off the static, he turned in time to have Buffy attach herself to his side again.

As badly as he wanted her in his bed, he also didn't want to jeopardize their relationship by pushing for too much too soon. For now, he was over the moon just because she was willing to try. It was more than he had ever hoped for. So instead of leading her towards his bedroom, he guided her to the living room. She graced him with one of her mega-watt smiles as they sat down on the couch.

"Thirsty?"

She shook her head as she bent over to take off her boots. Once that was done, she sat back up and tucked her legs up under her. She snuggled against him and sighed in contentment. "Tonight was wonderful. I think that's the best date I've ever been on."

"Really?" He asked in surprise. "Why's that?"

"It was fun and relaxing." She looked coyly up at him. "But the best part was being with you."

Jack swore that one statement was enough to turn him into a giddy teenager. He felt his heart swell in happiness and he reached up to cup her cheek. His thumb lightly rubbed her cheekbone and Buffy's eyes fluttered shut.

Jack bent his head and gently teased her lips. She quickly parted them and granted him entrance. Their tongues sensually danced and she could feel her heart beat faster. He broke the kiss despite her gasping protest and pulled her closer. His lips ghosted over the creamy skin of her neck causing her to whimper slightly. Her body strained to increase the contact, but he held firm with his tender ministrations.

Buffy's senses expanded and she was keenly aware of where Jack's body touched her own. It was as if every inch was scorched from his heat. A gasp escaped her lips as he bit down slightly at the pressure point at the base of her neck only to return to the featherlight kisses of before. She could feel her abdomen tighten with desire.

Their position on the couch became uncomfortable for her and she shifted until she straddled his lap. He growled slightly as his hands slipped under her sweater only to encounter the fabric of her camisole. She grinned down at him and removed the bulky sweater and tossed it to the floor.

She swooped down and laid possession of his mouth. She swallowed his moan as she pressed closer. Breathlessly she broke the kiss, only to turn her attention to his neck. He tasted of something spicy that she could only readily define as pure Jack. His rough hands found their way under the soft cotton of her camisole and the contact caused tingles of pleasure to shoot through her body. She rocked her hips lightly against his own and felt his growing erection. He groaned and pulled her up to plunder her mouth in a passionate kiss.

She found herself wanting more. Her fingers nimbly unbuttoned his navy blue shirt and she pushed it slightly off his shoulders.

Suddenly, she had the brief impression that they were suspended in mid-air before they landed on a hard metal surface.

"Umm, sir?"

They looked up to see SG-1 staring at them in surprise.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Warning:** As you guys know, work is going crazy for me now. I had hoped to have had some free time to write, but sudden home repair stuff came up as well so I'm nowhere ahead on chapters as I should be. Therefore, I may not be able to keep the updating schedule. This is the last of the prewritten chapters. If I don't update in two weeks, just check every Sunday for it. I'll only update this fic on Sundays.

**Chapter Fourteen**

Buffy and Jack quickly separated and got to their feet. She hastily pulled down the hem of her shirt while her face went a dark crimson. This was _not_ how she had expected their date to end. There had been a lot more kissage and a significantly less amount of people involved in her version.

Jack began buttoning his shirt as he said, "Thor, buddy! Don't you think you could have given us a little warning? I mean we could have…" He trailed off as he felt the back of his neck start to turn red. He was very thankful that he had opted for the couch and not the bed. Not that things couldn't happen on the couch, but for their first time Buffy deserved better than that. Hell, she deserved better than _this._

"I am sorry, O'Neill, but this is an urgent matter. I require the help of the Slayer and SG-1," the small alien said.

"Slayer?" Daniel asked, his curiousity perking up. It was enough to distract him from his happiness that Buffy and Jack had obviously acted on their attraction.

"Damn it, Thor! Not everyone knows!" Jack said irritably. First the interruption and now he was about to blow the lid off of Buffy's secret. Could this get any worse?

"I had assumed that you would have informed your team by now."

"We hadn't."

"My apologies, but there is a planet that is being overrun by vampires."

Jack groaned. It was definitely getting worse.

"Vampires?" Sam asked incredulously.

"So just do your beaming thing and take care of it," Jack said with a shrug. He studiously ignored the stares from his team.

"Our sensors cannot detect them, nor do we have the physical abilities to defeat them," Thor said calmly, his large black eyes blinking up at Jack.

"Vampires?" Sam asked again.

"How many?" Buffy asked with a sigh. She sadly noted that she was somehow not surprised by the turn of events.

"From the accounts of the villagers we believe there to be nearly one hundred spread over the area," he replied, turning to look at her.

"Jack, what's going on?" Daniel asked.

"Just a second," Jack snapped. He looked at Buffy, determined to follow her lead on this.

"Fine, but I'll need my weapons and my team instead of SG-1," Buffy said finally. "Although Jack can stay as long as he promises not to get all protective on me."

"Hey!" Jack protested.

"Why SG-13 and not us?" Sam asked, a little offended of being left out of the loop.

"Because it's the team I work with, I'm more comfortable with them. Not that I don't like you guys, but I've never been in the field with you. Plus, they deserve to hear the truth before you do," she finished.

"Sound reasoning," Teal'c said with a small bow of his head.

"How about we take both teams," Jack suggested softly.

She turned to protest but saw the calm acceptance of whatever her decision was going to be shining in his eyes. Thinking over the odds, she had to agree. "Sure, eight against a hundred, much better." She looked at Thor. "So, I need my team, weapons, and a change of clothes. Oh, and pobably some other supplies if we're going to be there a while."

"I will beam them up now," Thor said, moving to a console.

"Wait!" Jack cried. He knew his team had still been at the base as evidenced by their BDU's, that came as no real shocker to him. However, Buffy's team wasn't quite as bad at the long hours. "Beam us back down to gather them. SG-13 would be at home and I don't want you to beam them out of their beds. Dave and Wells are married. We need to protect national security."

"Very well," Thor said. He shifted a crystal and Buffy and Jack disappeared in a flash of white light.

Sam looked at Daniel and Teal'c. "What just happened?"

Daniel shrugged and turned to Thor. "Could we go down and gather…" He was cut off as the three of them disappeared in a flash of white light.

XXXXXXXXX

Buffy blinked several times to regain her senses. She and Jack were back in his living room. "He really doesn't like to give warnings, does he?" She asked with a small pout.

"No, he doesn't," Jack said with a sigh. He pulled her close and hugged her. "Sorry."

"For what?"

"This kind of puts a damper on the whole date. Not to mention having to reveal your secret."

"It's okay. It was bound to happen sooner or later," she said, taking comfort from the embrace. She tilted her head up to look at him. "You wanna call Dave? Might be more official-like coming from you."

"Sure. Are you going to gather weapons?"

"Yeah. Good thing everything from Willow arrived yesterday," she said, not moving. "I'm just going to need some help from Thor to get the scythe. It might come in handy."

"Sweet. I'll finally get to see this thing of beauty you've raved about over the past few years," he said with a smile. With extreme reluctance he eased his hold on her. "We should get moving."

Buffy nodded and headed back to her room while Jack went to the phone. He called General Hammond first so he wouldn't be surprised by two of his teams going missing.

Half-hour later, Dave pulled into the drive with Simon and Jeff. He was only mildly surprised when the door swung open before he had a chance to knock.

"Come on in," Buffy said as she pulled her hair up in a messy ponytail.

He took in her black leather pants and white tee. "What's going on? Jack was vague on the phone," he said as the rest of the team walked in. They had shown up in their civies, but they each carried a duffle bag.

Jack shut the door and locked it. "I'll explain when we get…" There was a flash of light and then they were on Thor's ship. "There," Jack finished lamely.

"Slayer, are you ready?" Thor asked.

"Nope, one more thing and I'm not sure if you can do this. But I need a large object that's located at this address." She handed him a slip of paper. "But Willow put up a lot of wards to protect it."

Thor went to a different console and shifted several stones. "I should be able to compensate for the magical shield surrounding it."

"Cool. Can you leave this in its place?" She asked, handing him another piece of paper. "I don't want them to freak when they find it missing."

"I can," Thor said. A minute later, a large stone with the scythe in it appeared in a flash of light.

"We're good to go," she said with a bright smile.

"Where are we going?" Dave asked. He had just fallen asleep when Jack had called and he didn't appreciate being kept in the dark about a situation that pulled him out of his warm bed and away from his family.

"I'm not sure," Jack said with a small frown. "Thor?"

"It is a small planet on the outskirts of your galaxy. It has no stargate and it is one of the planets in the Protected Planets Treaty. It should take us little more than a day to reach it."

"Isn't it against the rules to do something like this?" Jack asked. "You wouldn't help us with the asteroid."

"I will not be doing anything, you will," Thor said calmly as his ship entered hyperspace.

"Oh."

"And why are we needed?" Dave asked.

"The Slayer requested your presence," Thor replied. "If will excuse me, I have to attend to another matter elsewhere on the ship."

"Who's the slayer?" Dave asked no one in particular as Thor left.

"That would be me," Buffy said, raising her right hand slightly. "If everyone would get comfortable, I'll explain."

"This wouldn't happen to do with stories about a mythical warrior would it?" Daniel asked.

"Damn it, Daniel! I told you no research," Jack said.

"I stopped. I had found those before you told me to stop," Daniel said defensively.

"Oh," Jack said as he looked for a place to sit that wasn't on the floor. He was really going to have to talk to Thor about the accommodations. If he was going to keep 'abducting' them like this, the least he could do was provide decent seating. Giving up, he eased his lanky form to the ground.

Buffy sat next to him and took a deep breath before starting. "Obviously you know the world is much older than what most people think. Once upon a time, demons freely roamed the planet until they were mysteriously displaced. At first, we thought it was humans, but now I'm thinking it was the Ancients. Only problem was that they didn't all leave. Some went into hiding, others infected humans with their blood and created hybrids."

She scrunched her nose in thought. "I'm guessing here because I've learned about the Ancients from you guys and I'm readjusting what I know to what I've learned to make things fit together." She looked over a Jack and he gave her a reassuring smile. "The Ancients either left or did their ascending thing and humans took over. But I'm guessing the demons decided they didn't have to hide anymore and tried to retake the planet. A group of men took steps to prevent this and created the slayer. They… they took…"

Jack slipped his hand into hers and she squeezed back. It felt good to have him there supporting her. "They took part of a demon essence and put it into a young woman. She became stronger, faster, and her healing abilities and senses grew."

"What do you mean put it in her?" Simon asked.

"They chained her to the ground and forced this spirit into her body. She was so confused and scared…" Buffy trailed off as she remembered her own feelings when she had been sent back by the device in Nikki Wood's slayer bag.

"How awful," Sam said softly.

Buffy nodded. "She became the first slayer. Created to protect mankind from the demons. When she died, the powers were passed to another girl, and so on and so on. There was always one slayer with her watcher – an adult who was part of a group that was aware of the slayer. They trained and guided the slayer. The watcher, demons, and death were all that a slayer knew."

"Sounds lonely," Sam said. As proud as she was that it was a woman granted the powers to defend, it was not the life anyone should know.

"It all changed when Buffy was called," Jack said with a big grin.

"Jack," Buffy said with a roll of her eyes. She released his hand to give him a slight shove.

"What happened?" Dave asked.

"I wasn't alone. My friends found out, then mom and Dawn. They helped me and I wasn't alone anymore. I dated, went to school, and led a semi-normal life. Things were good – right up until I died."

"Died!" Jeff cried.

"She's trying to catch up with Daniel's record," Jack said with a smirk.

Buffy gave him a smirk of her own and said, "I drowned and was legally dead until Xander, a friend, performed CPR. But it was enough to call another slayer."

"And then there were two," Simon said. "Things had to be easier."

"Sort of. She died a year later and Faith was called. She went evil and… Well, to make a really long story short, over the years I graduated from high school, went to college, dated some more…"

"Wait a second there," Dave interrupted. "When the hell were you called?"

"I was fifteen," she said with a sigh. She had a feeling she knew what their response was going to be and she wasn't disappointed.

"Fifteen!" Nearly everyone cried to some degree.

"That's normal. All slayers are called between fifteen and eighteen," she said with a shrug, not realy wanting to focus on it. "Anyway, met Dracula, Faith got better, fought a hell god, died again for five months, Willow brought me back, had a really bad year, my best friend went evil, had another bad year, destroyed a city, created a new Watcher-Slayer Council, got a desk job, and now I fight aliens."

"And where does Jack fit in to all of this?" Daniel asked curiously.

"She saved my sorry ass from a demon in L.A. the summer before her senior year," he said proudly. "We've been friends ever since."

The group sat in silence as they processed everything. It wasn't everyday that you were told that horror stories were true and that the small woman before them was the main line of defense against them.

Jack seemed to sense that everyone needed time and space so he suggested, "Well, let's see about getting some shut eye. We can discuss strategy in the morning."

XXXXXXXXX

Dave walked over to where Jack was watching everyone slowly wake up. "Morning."

"Morning, Dave."

Leaning in, Dave whispered, "You do know that you have a hickey, right?"

Jack's eyes widened. "Umm, no," he squeaked.

"From Buffy?" Dave casually asked, acting as if they were discussing the weather.

"Yeah… Is this going to be a problem?" Jack asked. He knew about the rumors and didn't want to make things complicated for Buffy.

"For me and the team? Nah. We know she's good, that's why she's here. I didn't believe the rumors for one second. I had already made my mind up about her the moment we met."

"It's her eyes," Jack said softly, watching Buffy talk to Jeff next to one of the viewports.

"She's been through a lot, I knew that before her story last night. That just filled in the blanks and explained a few things." Dave turned his eyes on Jack. "Are you serious about her?"

"What?" Jack asked in surprise, tearing his eyes off of Buffy to look at Dave.

"Are you serious about her?" Dave calmly repeated.

Jack eyed him for a moment and then nodded. "Very serious."

"Good. 'Cause I'd hate to tarnish my record by attacking a fellow officer for hurting a member of my team," Dave said dryly, patting Jack's shoulder as he walked towards Buffy. He stopped short when he heard Buffy ask, "And you don't hate me for not telling you sooner?" He wanted to give Jeff time to answer on his own.

"Hate you?" Jeff asked in surprise. "I couldn't hate you. I like you too much to hate you. At least you chose to tell us. You could have just left us in the dark."

"Huh?"

"I overheard Major Carter telling Dave that you wanted us to go with you instead of SG-1. She was a little put out."

"Well, too bad for her," Buffy said with an indelicate snort. "You guys deserved to know before them."

"See what I mean," Jeff said with a beaming smile.

"Okay, so _you_ don't hate me, but I'm sure Dave and Simon do," she said sullenly.

Dave decided to put a halt to her worries by joining in. "I can't speak for Wells since the knucklehead is still sleeping, but I certainly don't hate you, Summers."

"Really?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Really. I can see why you've got that loner attitude drilled into ya, but we can work on that," he said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Just remember, if you ever need anything, we're here for you."

"That means everything except dealing with girly stuff," Simon said with a grin as he joined them.

Tears welled up in Buffy's eyes. "Thanks, guys." She was surprised by their support, and even more surprised by the group hug she suddenly found herself in. They had always gotten along and they treated her like their kid sister, but she didn't think they had reached the group hug stage.

"Alright, enough of this mushy stuff. Summers needs to teach us how to fight vampires." Dave said with a shake of his head. "I never imagined saying that to anyone before."

"You'll get used to it," Buffy assured him.

As the others walked away, Dave stopped Buffy for a second. "If he doesn't treat you right, just let me know. Even though I don't think it'll matter."

"You know?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "Once again, you're assuming I'm an idiot. For nearly a week you both had matching bad moods, then they're gone, and now you each have a hickey. It wasn't that hard of a conclusion to make."

"Oh my god! Why didn't someone say something?" she said, pulling her hair out of the ponytail to hide her neck.

"Relax, Summers. I was only joking about your hickey," he said with a grin. "His is quite real, though."

She glared up at him. "Not funny. Everyone's gonna find out and think I…"

"No one's gonna find out. Plus, you've got your team to watch your six. We know you belong here."

Buffy looked at him. He had surprised her yet again. "You're not gonna…"

"Nobody's business but your own. If he makes you happy then that's who you'll get. But I'm serious, if he hurts you, I'm gonna kill him," he said soberly.

"You are so full of surprises," she said, hugging him suddenly.

"I guess," he said, a little embarrassed. "Now show me this weapon you had Thor beam up before Jack gets jealous."


	16. Chapter 15

Yeah, I know it's been a while, but Real Life has been crazy. I've got the next three chapters written so you'll at least see regular updates through then. After that, I may be on a hiatus again. My husband and I are in the process of buying a house so I may be internetless for a short time, plus super busy with the packing and moving. Enjoy! Chapter Fifteen 

Buffy looked around at the six expectant faces. This was definitely awkward. This kind of lecture stuff was never her forte, not to mention she'd be giving orders to her CO. It was not the normal order of things.

"Okay, I know that everyone here has experience out in the field and that you've been trained to 'eliminate' the enemy. Fighting vampires is not like fighting the Goa'uld or the human enemy on Earth. This is a completely different ballgame."

"How?" Sam asked.

"Because for the most part, your enemy has been at a distance. Yeah, I know you guys get the hand-to-hand training, but you tend to rely on your guns. You can't do that with vampires, especially since guns don't really hurt them. But fighting a vampire is never done from a distance… Well, sometimes it can be, but usually not 'cause they're right on top of you before you know it… For normal humans anyway…" She trailed off of her babbling when she saw their confused looks.

"Let me try this again. You can't kill a vampire without help from something, but vampires don't need anything but themselves to kill you. Fighting them is usually face-to-face. They have to do it that way in order to feed. They aren't trying to kill you because you are the enemy; they kill you because you are their food. And just because they look human, doesn't mean they are."

She sighed. "A friend of mine once pointed out that the slayer has to reach for her weapon, the vampire doesn't. They are the weapon."

"So do the traditional methods work?" Daniel asked.

"Some do, some don't. Sunlight works, but I doubt we'll see these guys out and about during the day. They're probably well hidden. But just because it's daytime doesn't mean they're asleep. Beheading works and a wooden stake through the heart, and it doesn't even have to be a stake. Dawn… Dawn and Willow have both used pencils to dust a vampire."

"Garlic doesn't work in the slightest, and crosses and holy water will only hold them back. If the vampire is old and strong enough, the cross won't do much anyway. They can endure a great deal of pain." Her mind briefly flashed on Spike draping himself on a cross in an abandoned church. She remembered how he had stayed there until she had pulled him off.

"An important thing to remember is that vampires are stronger and faster than humans. You've been fighting the Jaffa and Goa'uld so you should be used to being outmatched. But just because they're stronger and faster, doesn't mean they're smarter. In general, vampires are pretty dumb," she said with a shrug.

"Lucky for us," Simon said under his breath.

Thor's voice came over the intercom. "Slayer, we will reach the planet in fifteen minutes. Is there any particular place you wish to beam down to?"

"The main village, or wherever the head guy is. I just need to talk to someone in the know down there."

"Very well."

"I guess it's weapon time then," she said with a grim smile.

She knelt down next to a huge duffel bag at her feet. She opened it up and from inside a side pocket she removed a bunch of stakes. They were quickly handed out until everyone had two, except for Daniel and Jeff. They had three.

"These will be your primary weapons. Just remember that anything wooden will do. So if you find a stick lying on the ground, it will work. Don't be afraid to improvise."

"And you have to hit the heart," Jack added.

Buffy glared at him. "I knew I shouldn't have told you that story. I'm never going to live it down."

"What story?" Simon asked.

"The first time she tried to stake a vampire she missed its heart," Jack said with a grin.

"Jack, do you want me to tell them about the first time you tried to stake a vampire?" She sweetly asked.

"Uhh, no. That's fine," he said hastily.

"That's what I thought," she said with a smirk. Returning to lecture mode, she said, "Make sure the stakes are within easy reach. You may only have a split second to reach for it, so don't bury it in a pocket." She demonstrated by placing her stake in the back of her waistband.

"Why's yours all special and curly?" Dave asked.

"It's Mr. Pointy," she said with a slight pout. "He's a special stake."

"A special stake?"

"Yes, a special stake." She handed Sam and Simon each a crossbow before handing Jack, Dave and Teal'c each a sword. Daniel and Jeff both pouted when all she gave them was a cross and squirt guns filled with holy water.

"We don't get any fun toys?" Jeff asked.

"You guys are… Well, I was worried…"

"Oh, for cryin' in a bucket, Buffy," Jeff said with a roll of his eyes. "You can trust us with sharp objects."

"The Air Force even lets us play with guns," Daniel reminded her.

"Fine! You can have axes, but only if you promise not to hurt yourselves."

"We'll try," Daniel assured her.

Buffy pulled out the last two major weapons in the bag. She frowned slightly as she saw a small white envelope at the bottom with her name written on it in Willow's handwriting. She had other things to concentrate on at that moment than Willow so she folded it and put it in her pocket before handing out the axes.

"Which weapon will you carry?" Teal'c asked.

"Something special," she said with a grin.

"As if the special stake wasn't enough?" Dave asked wryly.

She ignored him as she went over to the object Thor had beamed up. The scythe easily came out of the stone and she gave it a quick twirl. "This weapon was created specifically for the slayer. Others can use it, but every slayer who has held it can feel a connection to it."

"May I see it?" Sam asked.

"Sure," Buffy said, handing it over.

Sam pursed her lips in thought as she looked it over. She seemed to concentrate on the cutting edge. "This has naquadah in it."

"Huh?"

"The same material that the gate is made from is inside the blade and probably trinium as well. I'd have to run some tests to be positive, though. They're both very powerful and durable metals."

"Maybe that's why I've never had to sharpen it," Buffy said thoughtfully. "And it cut through Turok-hans without a problem."

"Turok-hans?" Daniel asked, curiosity shining in his blue eyes.

"Uber-vamps. Trust me, you don't want to meet one." Mentally Buffy prayed that the vamps on that planet weren't Turok-hans. She didn't want to relive that experience and her friends wouldn't be able to help her.

"Hey, Carter, hand that thing over," Jack said. A look of approval crossed his face as he looked it over. "Sweet."

"Don't hog all the fun," Dave said next to him. He took the scythe out of Jack's hands. "Not bad. A little small for me, but since you're a midget it should be fine for you."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Ha, ha, Dave. Let's not forget that I can kick your ass seven ways from Sunday."

"May I?" Teal'c asked and Dave handed it over to the Jaffa. He twirled it a few times before holding it so it lay across both of his large hands. "This is a perfectly balanced weapon, Buffy Summers. I am not surprised that it serves you well." He handed it over to her with a small bow of his head.

Her eyes widened slightly and her voice was a little thick as she replied, "Thanks." She cleared her throat and said, "Oh! Important things to remember on the surface. I'm in charge."

"Excuse me?" Sam asked in surprise.

"Got a problem with that?" Buffy asked.

"I do. We have two ranking officers here. One is your CO and the other is the second in command of the SGC."

"True, but this is my area of expertise. Jack has gone on patrol with me before, but he's never been in a full-fledged battle with vampires before. We have no idea what to expect down there. I have, ergo, I'm the one with the most expertise and I'm the one in charge."

"I'll follow her lead," Dave said and the rest of the SG-13 nodded their heads without hesitation.

Sam looked over at Jack. "Sir?"

"Oh, come off it, Carter. She's the expert. Don't I defer to you or Daniel or Teal'c if you're more in the know than me?" Jack asked in exasperation.

"Yes, sir," she said grudgingly.

"Then let Buffy do her thing," Jack said, giving Sam a warning look.

"I don't really have a plan yet, but that's nothing new. I have to get the layout down there and talk to whoever knows what's going on."

There was a flash of light and the group suddenly found themselves on the surface. "Okay," Buffy said looking around. "Guess I'll get to that plan sooner than I thought. Let's find the guy in charge."

XXXXXXXXXX

Jack stood as Buffy exited the building where she had been talking with the village elders. He was slightly bolstered by the fact that Buffy didn't look too worried.

She walked over to them and smiled. "There are five villages each with about ten to fifteen vamps terrorizing them. From what I've gathered, they only kill two or three people a month."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"There's an awful lot of them compared to villagers. It's so they don't run out of food," she said with a shrug.

"Umm, ew," Daniel said.

"They're vampires," Jack reminded him.

"Yeah, but to think that they keep track of us like that…"

"But the villagers have seen dead animals so they do have an alternate food source. The humans must be some sort of special treat…" Buffy smiled apologetically at Daniel who was starting to turn a little green around the edges.

"Any idea where their daytime hideout is?" Jack asked.

"Not yet, but I don't think it's anywhere in the village. Jace said there aren't any abandoned buildings so they're probably in the surrounding forest."

"Well, that sounds like a swell time," Dave said. "Can't wait."

Buffy grinned at him. "We'll get to stay in some of the villagers' homes. So you guys can go get settled and I'll catch up with you later."

"Wait a minute," Jack said. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to do a quick sweep to get some idea of where to start tonight." Her hazel eyes bored into him, pleading for him to understand.

"Just don't get lost," he said with a sigh after a long moment.

"Jace will show you to the houses." Then she made her way down the dirt road.

Jack watched her until she disappeared as the others were led away. As much as he wanted to be there for her, he knew that sometimes she just needed to be alone. There had been a lot of changes in her life over the past twenty-four hours so it was no surprise to him that she needed to return to some normalcy.

"Damn, I thought I was breaking her of that habit," Dave said from beside him.

"What habit?"

"The loner thing."

"The slayer was designed to be alone," Jack said sadly. "She once told me that she always feels alone, even around her friends, but it's better now. I don't think it's just because of me." Jack gave Dave a pointed look.

"Well, I guess that's something," Dave said, giving Jack a quick pat on the shoulder. "Let's go check out these rooms."

XXXXXXXXXX

The sun was just starting to set when Buffy returned. Jack gave her a small smile as the group gathered around the kitchen table in one of the houses. She shyly smiled back at him as he handed her a glass of water.

"How'd it go?" Dave asked, plopping into one of the chairs.

"Not bad. They definitely aren't in the town or the immediate area. I did a sweep of the whole town and sensed nothing. The closest village is a three day walk, so they've got a building or a cave they've found," she said, taking a drink of water. "I need something to write on and with."

Daniel walked over to his pack and pulled out his notebook and pen. "Here."

Buffy roughly sketched out a map of the village. "I was never good at art, but I'm sure you'll understand this," she said apologetically. "In order to cover a lot of ground, we should split up into pairs. Me and Jeff, Dave and Simon, Jack and Daniel, and Sam and Teal'c."

She began circling areas of the surrounding forest. "Each pair will take an area. Hmm… Do a radio check-in every half-hour. Then we'll meet back here at about two."

"Two? Why so early?" Sam asked. "We have all night."

The slayer shook her head. "Not necessarily. Jace said they just found a body two days ago, which means they won't be coming to town to eat. Even if they did come to town to 'hang out' these people go to bed pretty early because they get up early."

"And any animal they would feed from would also retire early. That would decrease the probability of finding them," Teal'c said in understanding.

"Plus, you'll be getting tired and that makes you sloppy. Sloppy causes that other thing," Buffy said.

"Other thing?" Jeff asked in confusion.

"Death," Jack said calmly. The archaeologist's eyes widened slightly and he solemnly nodded.

"Everyone know the plan?" Buffy asked the group and they all gave her an affirmative response. "Then let's hunt."


	17. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen 

"Don't you find this all just a little odd?" Sam asked after the second radio check in.

"Do I find what odd?" Teal'c asked, ducking under a branch.

"That we're searching for vampires. It's just a boogeyman type story. They don't really exist."

"I would have thought that with your experiences that you would not dismiss anything so lightly. Eight years ago you would have not believed that aliens existed and yet you now know many species. Does the fact that Thor believes they exist not reassure you?"

Sam frowned slightly. "I suppose it does a little. But how are we supposed to believe that the planet has been protected for thousands of years by teenage girls? Or that Buffy is one?"

"Why do you find it hard to trust her?" Teal'c asked instead.

Sam stopped and gave Teal'c an incredulous look. "I do trust her, it's just… this is a little strange."

"It is, but I trust that Buffy Summers will successfully lead us in liberating these people."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Do you think there are really vampires, sir?" Simon asked as he adjusted his night vision goggles.

"Wells, I've seen too much crap over the past few years to not believe in the possibility. If Summers and Jack say they're real, then they must be," Dave replied.

"So you believe Buffy is some kind of mystical warrior?"

"You think she lied?"

"No," Simon said hastily. "This is just a lot to take in at once. I mean, I know she's tough because of how she rescued Balinsky, but… she's just so small."

"Don't let her size fool ya. She's strong and could probably wipe the floor with Teal'c."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah," Dave said with a snort. "I know for a fact that she's been holding back during our spar-"

"Sir, movement to the left," Simon said, interrupting him.

Both men stilled as they looked to the area that Simon had pointed out. They were quickly able to make out two males making their way through the forest. The distorted faces on the figures assured them that they weren't friendly. Through a series of quick hand gestures, Dave outlined his plan then melted into the trees.

Simon waited until Dave signaled that he was in position by a single click of the radio. He raised the crossbow and made sure it was completely armed. When he was fairly certain his aim was correct he carefully squeezed the trigger. He jumped slightly when the figure literally exploded. Then he saw Dave slip up behind the other and took advantage of the confusion by decapitating it.

The dust had settled by the time Simon had caught up with his team leader. They looked down at the two piles of dust on the forest floor and then back to each other.

"So… vampires are real," Simon said calmly.

"Looks like," Dave agreed.

"And Buffy is a mystical warrior…"

"In a pint sized package," Dave said with a grin.

"I'm telling her you said that."

XXXXXXXXX

Late the next morning, Buffy managed to slip away from the two teams. They had already met to go over their findings while they ate breakfast. She was fairly certain that they'd find the vamps local hideout tonight after looking over the map and marking their kills from their first excursion. Her lips twisted in a wry smile as she remembered Sam pouting when she'd learned that she and Teal'c were the only two who hadn't seen or killed any vampires the night before. The major was probably half convinced that it was a conspiracy against her.

Buffy reached a small clearing, she sat underneath one of the encircling trees and pulled out the letter she had found. She had briefly thought about waiting until they were back on Earth to read it, but knew she'd never last that long. She needed to know if her friends were going to support her or turn their backs on her once again.

With slightly shaking hands, she opened the envelope and removed the letter. Her hazel eyes closed and she took a calming breath before opening them again.

_Dear Buffy, _

_I want to start off by apologizing. I never should have said those things to you. It was wrong and just plain rude. _

_You just had me so scared and worried while you were gone. I understood why you had done it, but it hurt that you didn't feel like you could come to me. I know that our friendship has had a few problems, but I always thought that we could talk about anything together. When you left immediately after Dawn's funeral without saying goodbye I felt a little betrayed. _

_Faith has pointed out that there were probably too many reminders here for your raw emotions and that you just needed some breathing space. But knowing that still didn't help. Faith literally held Xander down to keep him from looking for you. It was actually kinda funny and I wish I had taken a picture to show you._

Buffy giggled softly at the mental image. She wiped the tears off her cheeks and continued reading.

_I was just so darn happy when you called that I thought things were going to go back to normal, or at least as normal as we could get without Dawn, and, hey, looks like I can even babble a little on paper. _

_But when you said you weren't coming back, I felt crushed. It felt like you were running away from us and Dawn's memory. So I lashed out. _

_But Jack said some things to me that made sense even if I didn't want them to. I realized I had made a huge mistake that night and I (insert the w word here) I could take it back, but I can't. _

_The only other person who knows where you are now is Giles. He had walked in right after I got off the phone and I couldn't hide it. Turns out that he somehow knew you were friends with Jack._

Buffy stiffened. She thought she had been so careful.

Joyce had mentioned to him that you received a few calls and letters. Since they always seemed to cheer you up she didn't want to press, but she was still worried. Giles did some research and found out that he was a good man. He said he didn't know what the top-secret thing is that he does, but knows of his reputation. He assured me that you were in good hands.

Buffy relaxed knowing that their cover wasn't blown. She'd hate to deal with paperwork and telling General Hammond that her friends had found out about the SGC. That wouldn't be a pleasant experience.

_I only hope that you'll forgive me one day. Know that at least Giles and I, and probably Faith, will support you with whatever you need. If you want, I can try to explain everything to Xander and calm him down before you talk to him, but only if you want me to. _

_Giles sends his love in a very British manner and wants to talk to you sometime – just to talk, nothing serious. Tell Jack I'm sorry for everything I said and thank you for pointing out some harsh truths. But if he hurts you, I'm bringing a shovel. _

_Take care and much happiness!_

_Love,_

_Willow_

Buffy closed her eyes and bowed her head. Her slim shoulders shook as she cried in relief. She didn't realize how important Willow's approval of her new life meant to her until just then.

An arm slid around her shoulders and Buffy jumped in surprise. She looked up to see Jack's brown eyes looking worriedly at her. "Are you okay?" He softly asked.

She smiled at him and nodded.

"Not that I'm arguing, mind you, but it's been my experience that tears usually mean the exact opposite," he said with a little frown.

Not sure if she'd be able to find the right words, she handed him Willow's letter instead. She snuggled against him while he read.

When he finished, Jack sighed. "Well that sucks."

"Why?"

"I can't yell at her now. Hell, she even thanked me. It's no fun that way." He handed the letter back and wrapped his other arm around her. "But it makes you happy so I guess it'll have to do," he said in mock exasperation.

"Guess I'm not a good secret keeper," she said, folding the letter and putting it back in the envelope.

"Eh, moms are nosey. I'm not too surprised."

"I'm surprised Giles never said anything, or called you when I was dead."

"Won't know until you talk to him about it," Jack said. He tilted Buffy's chin up with a finger. "You sure you're okay?"

"Very," she said, reaching up to him to kiss him softly on the lips.

"Good," he said, capturing her lips again. "Before I forget, lunch is probably ready by now," he said, kissing her again.

"Already?" She asked, pulling back and breaking the moment. "How long was I gone?"

"A while. Plus, it took me a while to find you," he said with a sigh.

"It didn't feel that long." Her stomach growled loudly and she blushed slightly.

Jack stood and held out his hand. "Come on. Let's feed the hungry beast."

XXXXXXXXX

Daniel looked over at Jack while they continued on the patrol of the area that Buffy had given them that night. Jack was as quiet as he had been the night before. Curiosity that he could no longer contain was burning behind Daniel's eyes as he said, "So…"

"So…?"

"So…"

"So what, Daniel?" Jack asked.

Daniel opened his mouth to speak and Jack quickly cut him off. "I swear I'll hurt you if you say so again."

"You and Buffy, huh?"

"Congratulations. It only took you three days to say something. A definite improvement."

"Jack."

"Daniel."

"Are you going to tell me about it?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"None of your business."

"Oh, come on, Jack. After I watched out for Buffy while you were being a complete ass and then making you see the errors of your ways, I think I deserve something. Besides, I thought I was your friend."

"You are, Daniel, it's just… It's still very new and I don't want to ruin it."

Daniel smirked. "All the more reason to talk to me, to make sure you don't screw up."

Jack glared at him before realizing that the lack of light was diminishing its effect. "Why do I keep you around?"

"You gonna tell me about it?" Daniel asked again.

"You're not going to let go of this, are you?" Jack asked with a sigh. He ducked under a few low-hanging branches.

"Not unless you give me a good enough reason."

"Fine. I asked her out, she said yes, and we had a very nice date before we were rudely interrupted," Jack said irritably.

"Where did you take her?"

"Forget the vampires. I'll kill you myself."

XXXXXXXXX

Jeff grimaced as he adjusted his hold on the axe. It was still an unfamiliar object in his hands, but so far he had no reason to use it. Buffy had easily dispatched the three vampires they had seen the night before and the one from that evening.

Even with his experience with aliens and the Goa'uld, this was a surreal experience. As a kid he had always hoped that vampires were real, but the childish dreams had given way under his growing scientific mind. This was just another shift in his belief system and it excited him. Made him a little giddy.

A few feet in front of him, Buffy stopped and turned back to him. "Hurry up," she whispered. "I think I found it."

As quickly and quietly as he could, he reached Buffy. She was standing in front of a slim opening in the mountain. If Buffy hadn't pointed it out to him, he would have never seen it.

Buffy flicked on her flashlight, more for his benefit than hers, and slipped inside.

"This is it," she said after a moment in her normal tone. "This is their hideout."

"Are you sure?" Jeff asked. "This could be a mountain lion's home."

She grinned and shined her flashlight towards the opposite wall. "I don't know of a lot of mountain lions who use chairs. Do you?"

"Good point," he said, looking at the well-used, yet sturdy wooden chairs. "Should we tell the others?"

"Next check-in is in fifteen minutes. We'll just tell them then."

"Now what?"

"We wait," she said, sitting in one of the chairs.

"For how long?"

"I'm gonna wait until dawn."

Jeff grinned. "Catch them as they come home."

"Exactly."

"How many do you think are left?" He asked as he sat down next to her.

"Well, between the nine that were killed last night and the one I killed earlier, there shouldn't be more than five to ten left."

"Five to ten?"

It depends on how many the others killed and how many were actually living here." She leaned her head back against the cave wall and closed her eyes.

Jeff stood up and began restlessly pacing. "How can you be so calm?"

"You get used to it," she said with a sad smile. "Willow and Xander used to be jumpy when they first started helping me. They'd jump at almost every shadow. It didn't last for long though." She opened her eyes and looked over at him. "Think about when you first started fighting the Goa'uld. Weren't you a little jumpy then, but eventually settled?"

He thought about it for a moment and then nodded.

"It makes you a casualty."

"But I've… Oh," he said, understanding that not all wounds were visible. He sat back down, and they stayed that way in silence for a while before he said, "I don't mind it though."

"Mind what?"

"Being a casualty. I had… well, believe it or not, I had a hard time fitting in with the outside world. I may not have a lot in common with Dave, Simon, and you, but somehow you've become… family," he said softly. "It's nice."

"Even when we give you a hard time?"

"Especially then," he said with a grin. "You're being friendly about it, making me part of a group, not an outsider."

"Anything to help."

The radio on her vest crackled to life. "This is Jack and Daniel reporting in. Nothing yet. How about everyone else?"

Buffy counted up the numbers as everyone reported in. She figured that there were, at most, six vampires left. "I've found the hideout," she told them. "Right where I thought it was. Just keep closing in. It should take most of you another hour to get here. But you have to be careful, the entrance is hidden pretty well."

"On it," Jack said. "Check-in is in another half hour."

"So saving the world again, huh?" Jeff asked.

"This doesn't even register on the apocalypse scale."

"There's an apocalypse scale?"


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Chapter Seventeen**

Jack lightly poked at the small fire with a stick before settling back against the boulder. He wearily rubbed his eyes in effort to stay awake. Buffy had pushed the pace over the past two weeks, the protector in her wanting to save as many people as possible. They had already cleared out the vampires from four of the five villages, and they should be reaching the last one by mid-day tomorrow.

But their speed was taking its toll. Buffy was distancing herself more and more from the rest of the group, and he wasn't the only one who had noticed. Dave had been sending him some non-discreet looks over the past several days. Jack knew that if he didn't do something soon, Dave would.

A sad smile ghosted his lips as he looked over at Buffy's sleeping form. Even in sleep she was unable to fully relax. Her body was tense as if waiting for an attack and her brows were slightly creased in worry. He could see the dark shadows under her eyes telling the world of how little rest she was actually getting.

Jack checked his watch and sighed as he realized his rotation was over. He hated the thought of waking Buffy from her much needed sleep. Although now would probably be a good time to talk to her.

Fearing her reflexes, he safely pushed at her shoulder with his stick. He barely let go of it in time to prevent himself from being flung into the dark as she grabbed the stick and threw it.

"Easy," he said softly as Buffy sat up and looked wildly around.

Her eyes locked on to him and some of the tension left her. "Sorry. You startled me," she said, stretching her arms before standing.

"I was prepared," he said with a grin. Dave had earned a solid punch to the jaw when he had tried to wake her for watch the night before. "It's been quiet."

"Good," she said, moving to sit next to him. Instead, Jack grabbed her arm and guided her until she sat in front of him, between his long legs. He wrapped his arms around her forcing her to lean back against his chest. "Jack… What are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm holding you."

"We're not exactly alone," she hissed, gesturing to their sleeping teammates.

He sighed and relaxed his hold. "So you regret your decision to try this?"

"What?" She asked, turning to look at him. "Why would you say that?"

Jack squirmed. He hated discussing this stuff. It always felt like everything he said came out wrong. "Well, we haven't exactly done any… We haven't kis… It's like you're ashamed."

Buffy sagged against him and turned her attention to the dirt under her nails. "It's not you, it's me. Did you know there's a rumor about us that started when I joined the SGC?"

"I was aware."

"I'm just worried that they'll find out and believe it was always there. That that's the reason I was hired. That you'll get in trouble for dating someone in your command."

He tightened his grip around her. "I wouldn't worry about it. Anyone who has worked with you knows you belong here. You aren't military so I can't get in too much trouble for that either."

"But you could."

"Ah, but the president really likes us," he reminded her.

She looked at their sleeping teammates. "I know my team doesn't care, but what about yours?"

"Daniel can barely contain himself, he's so happy," Jack said with a chuckle. He rested his cheek against her head and reveled in the simple joy of just holding her. He'd missed it. "Anything else bothering you?"

"Just these vampires," she said, gazing into the small campfire.

"They haven't been much of a challenge," he said with a frown. "Why would they worry you?"

"It's not so much them as where they came from that's worrying me."

"What do you mean?"

Buffy resisted the urge to get up and pace, but stayed in the comfort of Jack's embrace. "There's no stargate and these people have been here for hundreds of years. This just started about a year ago. Unless the Goa'uld know about vampires and brought them here, which if they do we have bigger problems. But how did these vampires get here?"

Jack's frown got deeper. "Good question."

"And the closer we get to this last village the more… off I feel. There's something wrong with this other village. I think it's where it all started.

"We'll have to keep our eyes open then," he said. "Maybe make our patrol groups bigger."

"Probably wouldn't hurt," she said, as she snuggled closer. "Not that I'm complaining, but were you planning on getting some sleep tonight?"

"Later. I'm quite comfortable right here."

She smiled and softly kissed him. "Me, too."

XXXXXXXXXX

Daniel sighed as he slowly made his way through the forest. After doing so many evening patrols over the past few weeks, it seemed a little odd to be hunting vampires during the day. But something was worrying Buffy and they all could sense it. She had insisted on them getting a layout of the land during the day. She had even made the patrolling groups a little bigger.

They had fallen back into their old teams, with Buffy and Teal'c traveling together. Daniel had the sneaking suspicion that Buffy had teamed up with Teal'c because he was the only match for her – she didn't have to worry about him. Not that Daniel was offended, or wasn't thankful for an extra person in the patrol group. He knew how strong the vampires could be from a tussle he had gotten into in the last village. It just hadn't really occurred to him until just then of how lonely it must be to be different from everyone else around you. It had to be comforting and almost a relief to work with someone as different as you.

Daniel frowned as he noticed something. He stopped and crouched down to study the forest floor. "Jack! Sam! I think I've found something!"

"What is it?" Jack asked when they reached him.

"It looks like a path of some sort," Daniel said, indicating the barely visible packed earth.

"Let's find out where it leads," Jack said, checking to make sure all of his weapons were in place.

"Should we call Buffy?" Sam asked.

"Nah, this could be a game trail for all we know," Jack said as he started walking.

Ten minutes later they stopped and stared. Seeming to emerge from the rock face was a temple.

"This is being used, Jack. Look at how the branches have been cleared away," Daniel pointed out.

"There are two more paths, sir," Sam said as she swept the clearing.

Jack clicked on his radio. "Buffy, we've found some sort of temple that looks like it's getting some heavy use."

"Don't go inside. We'll all meet you there. Teal'c and I should be there in a few," Buffy's tired voice came through the speaker.

"Guess we wait," Jack said. He turned to see Daniel almost touching the outside wall. "Hey! Remember the rule about no touching?"

Daniel automatically jerked his hand back and turned to glare at Jack. "Yes."

"Just checkin'," Jack said with a small smirk.

A few minutes later, they could hear Teal'c's deep voice from a short distance away. "Are you certain, Buffy Summers?"

"Yes, _Spaceballs_ is a way better movie than _Star Wars_," Buffy replied.

"I find that hard to believe. _Star Wars_ has many fine attributes to make it an excellent movie."

"I'm not saying it's not a good movie, 'cause it is. It's just that _Spaceballs_ is better."

"You will have to show me this movie when we return to Earth," Teal'c said as they entered the clearing.

"As long as you've also seen _Star Trek_, 'cause it won't make sense if you haven't," Buffy said.

"I fail to see how not seeing _Star Trek_ would have an impact on my viewing of _Spaceballs_."

"Because _Spaceballs_ is a parody – it pokes fun at _Star Wars_, _Star Trek_, sci-fi in general," Jack explained.

Teal'c frowned at Buffy. "You wish for me to watch a movie that 'pokes fun' at _Star Wars_?"

"It's funny, Teal'c. It's not doing it out of spite," Jack said in her defense. "Trust her on this. It's a good movie."

"I shall withhold judgment until I witness this movie."

"Sweet. Movie night when we get back," Jack said with a grin.

"Can you read it?" Buffy asked, walking over to Daniel. To her it looked to be a bunch of squiggles, but then all foreign languages looked like that to her.

"It looks like an Ancient form of Sumerian. I don't recognize some of these words, but it keeps making references to the 'Old Ones' or the 'ones who came before'."

"Ah, crap," Jack muttered. In a louder voice, he said, "You think they raised an Old One?"

"No," Buffy said. "They're all back on Earth in the Deeper Well. They might have done some sort of ritual or something that turned one of them into a vamp and then so on and so forth."

"What's an Old One?" Dave asked, as the rest of SG-13 joined them.

"Full-fledged demons. They were the ones who first walked the Earth," Buffy explained. "Before man."

"How did a temple get out here?" Simon asked.

"The Old Ones had a lot of power so it's possible that one of them had been here. Could have hidden their troops here even."

"So… Probably not your run of the mill vamp in charge then," Jack said with a puff of air.

"Nope, which is why I'm going in alone," Buffy said.

"Whoa! Wait one minute here," Jack said. "What makes you think we're gonna let you do that?"

"Because I'm in charge," she said slowly. "I think it's too dangerous for you guys in there…"

"Says who?" Jeff asked.

"Says me."

"We can't let you go in there alone," Daniel said.

"Why?"

"Are we not your friends, Buffy Summers?" Teal'c calmly asked.

"Yes," she replied, her voice tinged slightly with confusion.

"Would you let us willingly walk into danger alone if you could accompany us?"

"No."

"Nor can we," he simply stated.

Buffy gaped at him in surprise, and then looked at the others. They all had resolute looks on their faces.

"Face it, Summers. You're stuck with us," Dave said with a grin.

"Fine, but if any of you die, I'm tellin'," she said, walking towards the temple.

Teal'c tilted his head. "Telling who?"

"It's a figure of speech, T," Jack said, rescuing Buffy from the explanation.

She stopped and turned to look at the two teams. "Just don't interfere when the fighting starts. This is going to be more than you can handle."

"But you can?" Dave asked slowly.

"This is my job," she said with a sad smile, turning back to the temple.

"That's not what I asked."

"No, it's not," she said, walking through the doorway.

Dave went to speak again, but Jack reached out and stopped him. "Let it go. She's had years to accept that she might not come out on top."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"No, it doesn't," Jack said with a sad smile of his own. He followed Buffy inside.

As the others filed in, Daniel quickly turned his attention to the writings that lined the wall. The rest searched the large entrance room for hidden dangers.

"Anything useful?" Jack asked Daniel.

"Not yet," he replied absently as Jeff joined him. They began a rapid conversation that the others didn't even try to follow.

"Just don't read out anything word for word, just summarize," Buffy said, edging towards the doorway that lead deeper into the temple. "Who knows what they did to cause this."

"Problems in the past?" Simon asked.

"Xander learned not to speak Latin in front of the books," she said with a true grin.

"Bad?"

"Just a small fire."

Jack moved to stand next to Buffy as the others continued their sweep. "How's the spidey sense?"

"Going haywire… I wouldn't swear to it, but it almost feels like… like a hellmouth," she whispered, leaning closer to him.

"For cryin' out loud, are you sure?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm not positive, but yeah."

"Got something!" Jeff called out.

Buffy and the others hurried over. "What?" She asked.

"We think the temple was built for Dalmatae's faithful. It suggests that if you were worthy, you were granted immortal life," he said.

"Does it explain how?" Buffy asked.

Jeff nodded. "Some references to moon and sun placement and a crystal."

"They must have found the crystal at just the right moment," Jack said in amazement. "Wonder what the odds were for that."

"Just means we have to make sure the crystal is destroyed so this can't happen again. You guys keep a lookout while I take care of the ring leader," Buffy decided with a grim look. "Let's finish this so we can go home."

Jack grabbed her arm to stop her. "You want to wait until tomorrow morning? We could get a good night's rest first."

Buffy shook her head. "It's too late. They probably already know we're here. Besides, I'm not sure if I'd be able to sleep."

"Then let's go," Jack said with a sigh. Her mind was already made up and there was going to be no stopping her.

They headed down the hallway with Buffy in the lead. They hadn't gone far when they heard a scuffle at the back of the line. Teal'c and Sam quickly dusted the two vampires that had attacked them.

"Everyone okay?" Jack asked. After everyone had answered, they started moving again. Only they were more wary now since it was obvious the vampires were up and knew they were there.

It wasn't long before they entered a large room that had an empty stand in the middle. Light was being filtered in by some strange manner. It bounced off the tops of the wall and bathed the room in a warm glow.

"Spread out, but be careful," Buffy said, her senses screaming at her that the enemy was close, but she couldn't seem to find them.

Four vampires seemed to emerge from the walls on either side of them. Sam fired off a quick shot from her crossbow, dusting one of them before it had even reached them.

Jack ducked under the swing of the one on his side. As he rose back up, he landed a quick uppercut causing the vamp to step back. He lashed out with his foot, disorienting it more before plunging his stake into its heart.

He turned to see Dave throw one of the others in his direction. Jack reached out and spun the vamp around to face him. "Hi, there," he said with a grin before punching him. Then he grabbed hold of the vamp's shirt and slammed him against the wall several times before staking him.

Dave shook off the punch the vampire had landed in time to take a step back to avoid the foot swinging towards his face. At the last moment, he grabbed the offending appendage and twisted. The vampire had no sooner hit the ground than Dave staked him through the back.

"Nice work," Jack commented.

"Thanks. Sparring with Buffy has its advantages," he said with a smirk as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Don't forget the crystal," Buffy said as she reached the pedestal. She could see where the crystal should rest, but no sign of the actual object.

"Well, what do we have here?" Said a soft male voice from the far corner of the room. A moment later, a nice looking man emerged with nine others flanking him. His human mask was firmly in place as he smiled at them. "How interesting. Resistance. Who are you?"

"If you were from Earth, you would have already been warned about me. But since you grew up without real civilization, I'll just have to forgive your ignorance. I'm the slayer," Buffy said with a smirk as she took a few steps away from the pedestal. "The vampire slayer."

"And what are vampires?"

Buffy resisted the urge to groan. "You are vampires."

"We are…" he hesitated.

"Yup, vampires. With the yellow eyes, bumpy foreheads, fangs, and a lust for blood."

"And you…"

"Kill your kind," she said, twirling the scythe causing it to sing. "Buffy the vampire slayer. And you are?"

"Lucas," he said, a half-smile pulling at his lips as he stepped closer. "And you are more than welcome to try, but I'm afraid you won't be too successful."

"Tell that to all of your followers we dusted in the other villages," she taunted.

His face twisted in anger and he motioned to the vampires surrounding him. They moved in to attack and all hell broke lose.

Buffy paid little attention to the minions and concentrated on Lucas. As they slowly circled each other she could hear the others fighting around them. Concern welled up for her friends, but she squashed it to concentrate on her opponent.

She blocked his first punch with the scythe and countered by smashing the side of his head with her fist. He growled as he turned back to her and tried a series of punches and kicks that she again easily blocked. She dropped under the last swing and swept her leg out, knocking him to the ground.

However, by the time she stood up, he had regained his footing. She threw a punch and he caught her fist. He shoved her back and she connected hard with the rock wall. He grinned at her as he moved to pin her but she surprised him by bringing her knee up into his groin. He gasped and took a step back as he bent over in pain. She kicked again, knocking him on his back.

"Impressive," he gasped out

She snorted. "I've met fledglings who were better than you." She heard the bones in his face crunch as he shifted to his true face.

"But you haven't seen everything yet, girl," he snarled before leaping at her with renewed strength.

Buffy cursed herself for letting herself believe that he hadn't been holding back as he landed a solid punch to her jaw. As she fell back, the scythe slipped out of her hands. He was obviously stronger and faster than she had originally thought.  
Lucas grabbed her arm and threw her over his head and she crashed onto the pedestal, causing it to crumble underneath her. She shakily got to her feet only to have pain erupt as a kick struck her low in the stomach. He didn't give her time to recover as he knocked her to the ground and kept her pinned down with his own body.

He yanked back on her hair, forcing her to expose her neck.

Jack looked up in horror to see Buffy go down. He was too far away to reach her in time and he had nothing to throw. "Buffy!" He cried, shoving at the nearest vampire.

Just as Lucas went to bite her, a bolt from a crossbow sunk into his shoulder causing him to loosen his hold on her. Jack looked over to see Simon lowering his crossbow. He sent up a silent prayer of thanks, before turning around to stake the vampire trying to attack him from behind.

Buffy managed to twist herself out from under Lucas and backed away. He broke off the end of the bolt with a sneer. "He missed."

"Maybe, but doesn't mean I will," she said, raising the scythe from where she had picked it up from the floor. She swung it in a deadly dance as she forced him to retreat as he ducked and weaved to avoid the weapon. There was no way she was going to underestimate him again. As she arced it towards him, she changed the angle at the last moment to hit him solidly against the head with the flat of side of the blade. With a flick of her wrist, she flipped the scythe around and staked him with the wooden end.

Lucas fell to the floor in a pile of ash and Buffy suddenly found herself being tightly held in Jack's arms.

"I thought I had lost you there for a minute," he whispered hoarsely into her hair. He pulled back enough to crush his lips to hers. She parted her lips to allow him entrance. All the fear and worry poured out as they desperately clung to each other.

"I found it," Jeff happily declared. He held up a pale purple crystal for everyone to see.


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Sadly, I have to say that this will be the last update for a while. I've got two research/writing heavy classes this semester that I didn't exactly count on. Plus, we're closing on the house this week (crosses fingers) so I'm gonna be eyeballs deep in moving soon. I'll update again as soon as I'm able...

**Chapter Eighteen**

"Slayer, were you successful?" Thor asked after he had beamed them back from the surface.

"Bad guys are dust, literally. And I have a name," she said, walking over to his console.

Thor blinked his large black eyes at her. "Very well, Buffy."

"See, that wasn't so hard," she said with a grin. "There's more going on down there than just the vamps. That temple is sitting on top of a hellmouth, or the start of one, or something nasty. Either way, you've got to get those villages away from there. Even if there aren't any demons around to open it, it'll affect the people in a not so nice way."

"I cannot."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"In accordance with the treaty we cannot affect natural events," Thor calmly replied.

"But if we arranged for the relocation?" Jack asked, coming over to stand next to her.

"That would not be a violation."

"Give the coordinates to Carter and we'll take care of it," Jack said.

"Thanks," Buffy said, giving him a grateful smile.

"Come on, let's get some sleep," Jack said, leading her off of the bridge. He kept a light touch on the small of her back as they made their way to the large room they were all staying in.

She could see Simon sitting off by himself. She looked up at Jack and he gave her a small nod and headed over to Daniel.

Buffy sat next to her teammate and leaned against him. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For helping. For saving me."

Simon slid his arm around her shoulder and squeezed her tight. "I was so scared that I was going to miss. Or worse, hit you."

"But you didn't," she said, resting her head on his shoulder.

"No, I didn't, thank God."

They sat in silence for several minutes before Jeff came over and sat on the other side of Buffy. He slid his arm behind her and leaned towards her. "Long day," he said wearily.

Buffy snorted softly. "You could say that. How are you?"

"I'm good. I think I could sleep for a week," he said with a grin.

She smiled back and patted him on the knee. "Think Hammond will give us that long off?"

"If you pout he might," Simon said, making all three of them laugh.

"All right, ladies. Playtime is over. Time to hit the sack," Dave said, smirking down at them. "That means you, too, Summers. Don't think I haven't noticed your lack of sleep these past two weeks."

"I know, I know, you're not an idiot," Buffy said with a slight roll of her eyes. She smiled up at him. Her eyes, though they showed how tired she was, sparkled at him. "Help me up."

He grinned down at her as he held out his hand. To his surprise, she jerked him down to the ground with the others. He moved to protest but saw the sheer joy that lit up Buffy's face and it died before he even opened his mouth.

"And I thought my team was crazy," Jack said.

"Ah, you're just jealous," Dave said with a grin.

"You only wish," Jack said. After Buffy's withdrawn behavior, it was so good to see her smiling and laughing again no matter the cause. "I thought we were going to sleep."

"I am," Buffy said, pretending to fall asleep against Dave.

"Summers, you might be a hot little thing, but I don't think Sharon would approve," Dave said, his glare not having any effect since he was trying hard not to smile.

"Well, fine," Buffy said, shoving him away. She leaned against Simon instead.

"Oh no, you think I'm going to risk Marci's wrath? Especially not with her hormones going crazy," Simon said with a laugh.

Buffy pouted at him and looked over at Jeff who held up his hands in protest. "Dave may be a great big bear, but he's a teddy bear compared to Jack."

"Now what happened to being there for me?" Buffy asked, her eyes alight with the friendly teasing.

"We are. We're just not getting between you and Jack," Simon said.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Buffy held out her hands to Jack. "Help me up."

"I don't think so," Jack said, taking a step back. "I saw what you did to Dave."

"I wouldn't do that to you," she said, smiling sweetly up at him. "I promise."

"Don't fall for it," Dave warned him. "If you do, she'll have complete control from here on out."

"Too late," Jack admitted, helping Buffy to her feet. "See you clowns in the morning," he said, as they walked away.

Buffy didn't protest when Jack lay next to her. She just snuggled down and sighed happily.

"How bad are you hurt?" Jack softly asked. He was lying on his side, propped up on one elbow. His back was to the rest of the room, shielding them from the others.

"I'm fine."

"I saw part of the fight," he said, his fingertips lightly trailing the bruise on her jaw. "How badly are you hurt?"

"Just a few bruises, nothing that won't be healed in a day or so."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," she said, her eyes fluttering shut at the soft touches. "Hammond is going to give us a few days off isn't he?"

"I'll make sure of it."

"Good, 'cause I'm a little tired," she said sleepily. "You wanna know something?"

"What?" He asked, running his fingers gently through her hair.

"Even though he had me pinned and was about to bite me, I wasn't scared."

"I was," he said, his voice laced with tension.

She barely opened her eyes to look up at him. "But I wasn't. I knew you guys would stop him," she calmly stated with conviction. Her eyes slid shut again.

He watched the tension leave her body completely. Now that she and her friends were safe, she could rest. The lines of stress and worry eased from her face as she drifted asleep.

Jack shifted to lie flat and Buffy instinctively snuggled up to him. A smile touched his lips as he fell asleep. Things were good again with Buffy safe in his embrace.

XXXXXXXXXX

Buffy stood at a view port watching the stars zip by, or what she guessed were stars. She didn't really understand the explanation of how hyperspace travel worked. It had been filled with a lot of technical terms and it nearly gave her a headache. All she needed to know was that it was really fast.

Her sleep the night before had been blissfully restful. Her body had moved past the constant watchfulness it had been in the past two weeks to a more relaxed state.

"Thor says we'll reach Earth in about an hour," Sam said, coming up to stand next to her.

"Really? That was fast," Buffy said, turning to look at her.

"In all fairness, I think most of us slept for more than twelve hours."

"True," Buffy said, returning her gaze to the 'stars'.

A long silence fell between them before Sam spoke up again. "Buffy, I want to say I'm sorry about how I've acted."

"You don't…"

"Yes, I do. I was rude and insensitive…"

"Sam," Buffy interrupted. "I showed up out of nowhere, your CO trusted me implicitly and I was hiding things. I would have mistrusted me."

"It was still no excuse."

"You guys have dangerous lives. I could've been controlling him with some alien-y device for all you knew," Buffy said with a shrug.

"I'm still sorry," Sam said with a small smile.

"And you're forgiven," Buffy said. After a moment, she asked, "Just out of curiosity, what brought this on?"

"Lucas. You. The past two weeks. It's easy to see why he and the others trusted you. To know that you've been doing this since fifteen. You don't need me giving you a hard time."

"Oh… thank you," Buffy said with a slight blush.

"You're a good person. You deserve better than how I was treating you."

Buffy just nodded, as her cheeks got darker.

XXXXXXXXXX

Jack held Buffy's hand as they stood outside of the building that housed the New Watchers' Council. As a favor, Thor had agreed to beam the two of them there for a quick visit before sending them back to Colorado Springs.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"As I'll ever be," she said. As one, they walked up the steps and entered the large building.

The secretary looked up and blinked in surprise. "Buffy?"

"Hi, Jenn. Are the Scoobs here?" Buffy asked.

"They're meeting in the conference room. Should I let them know you're here?"

"No, that's okay. I want to surprise them," Buffy said with a smile.

Jenn smiled back. "Go right on up. We've missed you."

"Thanks," Buffy said, her smile faltering slightly, but she held it together until the elevator doors closed. She hoped no one misunderstood her visit as an actual return.

"You'll be fine," he assured her.

"I know," she said, giving his hand a tight squeeze.

"They'll understand," he said, and she merely nodded.

The doors opened onto a new floor and Buffy guided him through the maze of hallways. From what he could tell, most of the doors were to offices, but others looked like some type of classroom.

"And people complain about the SGC being confusing," Jack muttered.

Buffy just grinned at him and then stopped at a set of double doors. She seemed to brace herself before opening the doors and walking in with Jack right behind her.

The room fell silent as six faces looked up in shock. Buffy fidgeted nervously as they neither moved nor spoke. Finally a voice said, "Check out the senior hottie."

"I'm guessing that's Faith," Jack said in a stage whisper to Buffy.

The dark haired slayer smoothly got out of her seat and went over to hug her sister slayer. "You look good, B."

"Thanks," Buffy said, tightly hugging her back.

"I'm sure your boy-toy has something to do with it," Faith said with a wink.

"He's part of it," Buffy said, knowing it was useless to argue the 'boy-toy' point with Faith.

As if Faith had broken the ice, Buffy was suddenly surrounded by her friends. Jack stood back and carefully watched them. If one of them so much as looked at her wrong he was going to take them down. But it didn't look as though that was going to be an issue.

Once the initial excitement had calmed down, Buffy made a quick round of introductions; although Jack had pretty much guessed who everyone was. Xander was easy to pick out because of the eye patch, Andrew looked just as youthful as Buffy described him, and Willow was obvious as the only other female. The only ones who were iffy were Wesley and Giles.

The younger of the two men was revealed to be Wesley, which just left Giles. He shook his hand and looked him squarely in the eye. He wanted to make sure Giles knew how much he cared for Buffy and how far he was willing to go to protect her. For his part, Giles smiled warmly back.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Col. O'Neill," Giles said in his cultured British voice. "I want to thank you for all of the things you have done to help Buffy over the years, and what you're continuing to do now."

Jack wanted to confront him about the lack of information he had received when Buffy had died, but he knew this was Buffy's moment. There would be time enough in the future for them to talk about it. All he said was, "It was my pleasure."

Giles smiled down at the young woman who was his daughter in all but blood. "If we had known that you were stopping by for a visit, we would have been more prepared."

"I didn't know it myself until five minutes ago," she sheepishly confessed.

He frowned. "Then how did you get here so fast?"

"Umm, top secret," Buffy said with an apologetic look. "I'd love to tell you guys, but I can't."

"You're not going all Initiative on us, are you?" Xander asked, his one eye narrowing.

Jack snorted derisively. "Oh, please. This is under much better management. It's more of our area of expertise than yours."

"So, so you know about…" Willow hedged, waving her hands around.

"Vampires and demons? Yeah," Jack said. "I've even killed a few."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "That may be true now, but in the beginning…" But she was cut off as Jack hastily covered her mouth with his hand, preventing her from speaking.

He let out a nervous chuckle. "Sooo, I'm sure you guys would love to catch up."

"Is the apocalypse over, B?" Faith asked as Buffy pried Jack's hand off of her mouth.

"What apocalypse?" Buffy asked, looking over at the dark haired slayer.

"We figured it was something big going down that we didn't know about and that you were handling it. That's why you took the scythe."

"Oh, that. All taken care of, and it's been put back. Willow, you might want to redo your wards around it," Buffy said.

"How did you get it out in the first place?" Willow asked. "And by the way, thanks for the 'helpful' note."

"Sorry, I didn't have a lot of time."

"What did it say?" Jack asked, looking at Buffy.

"I just explained that it was me borrowing it and I'd bring it back when I was finished with it, but I wasn't sure when that was going to be."

"Oh, huh-uh," Willow protested. "Her exact words were – Need this. Bring back soon. Buffy."

"That was it?" Jack asked, covering his face with one hand.

"I was in a hurry," Buffy repeated with a small pout.

"So who did you slay?" Andrew asked. "We need to keep track for the records."

"Just a couple of vamps, no biggie," she said with a shrug. "Didn't even register on the scale at the time, but could have gotten worse."

"Where did this occur?" Wesley asked.

"Umm, can't tell you that part."

"Top secret," Jack added.

"I thought you said what you were doing had nothing to do with us," Xander said suspiciously.

"Okay, this time it did, but normally not," Jack said in exasperation.

"Oh, do you fight aliens?" Andrew asked excitedly.

Buffy groaned and slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. "I told you he'd say that."

"Nah, kid. We don't get to do anything as cool as that," Jack said with a cocky grin.

She was barely able to hide her grin, and then she blushed as her stomach growled. "Sorry, it's been a while since I've had some real food."

"There's a diner just around the corner," Willow said. "We could go and eat, and maybe hang out a little. If you have the time," she hastily added.

"Yeah, I've got time," she said, linking her arm through Willow's.

Jack looked over at Giles who was smiling softly at the two women walking out the door. He knew this was only a small step towards mending the bridges, but at least it had been taken. As much as he hated what these people had done to Buffy, he also knew how important they were to her. He refused to stand in the way of the happy reunion. He already knew that Buffy had made her choice. She was staying with him.


	20. Chapter Ninteen

Yeah, I know, it's been a while. Real life has just been hectic beyond all belief. I might have another chapter ready in two weeks, but I wouldn't hold your breath for it….. Chapter Nineteen 

They had been back at Jack's house long enough to drop their bags and collapse wearily onto the couch when the phone rang. Without thinking, Buffy picked it up and said, "Hello."

"Where the hell have you been?" Came a familiar voice over the line.

"Oh, hey, John," she said sleepily, leaning against Jack.

"Oh, hey, John? You go missing for two weeks without a word, I can't get a hold of anybody and all you can say is 'Oh, hey, John'?"

"Sorry, it's been a long two weeks."

"Doing what?" He irritably asked.

"Killing alien vampires." She felt Jack's chuckle through the rumbling in his chest more than she'd heard it.

"Alien vampires?" John skeptically asked.

"Some old god temple on another planet, stupid ritual… became vampires. Thor asked for a favor, I gave," she said through a yawn.

"Amazingly I understood all of that."

"So how have you been?"

"Bored, bored, a little more bored, oh, and, of course, frantically worried about you," John said, a hard sarcastic tone coloring his voice.

"That's so sweet. But I warned you that high school was going to be boring."

"Yeah, I should have listened to you."

"Wanna make your life un-boring?" She asked.

"How?" He asked after a moment.

"I happen to have some friends in the evil fighting business who'd jump at the chance to have someone like you work for them."

"You mean the Watcher's Council with the people who betrayed you and stabbed you in the back?" He asked incredulously.

"Yeah, those people," she said, getting sleepier by the minute. Jack running his fingers through her long hair wasn't helping matters.

"I thought they didn't know where you were."

"They do now," she said simply.

"Do they know about the stargate?"

"Nope. See, I can keep a secret."

"Have you cleared it with them?"

"I told them that I had a young friend who might come by and that they should trust them," she said, snuggling closer to Jack.

"Did you tell them the truth about me?"

"Nope, I figured that was your story to tell and how much you wanted them to know."

"And what would I do at this New Watcher's Council?" John carefully asked, the interest clearly heard in his voice.

"Dunno. Told them to give you some sort of a field position, that you don't do well behind a desk."

"Neither do you," he said softly.

"I think they finally figured that out," she said, the small smile evident in her voice.

"Good. It's about time," he said grumpily. "So, do you really think I should?"

"Only if you want to," she replied. "It's just another option for you to consider."

"And you're okay?"

"All healed up."

"So you were hurt?"

"Not badly."

"And everyone else who went?"

"Clean bill of health. Barely a scratch on them."

"Good… good. I'll let you get some sleep."

"'Kay," she said through another yawn. "Night."

"Sleep well," he said before hanging up.

Buffy handed the phone to Jack, who placed it back into the cradle. Without a word, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her down the hallway. She looked up when he stopped and saw that he was hesitating between their two rooms. With a smile, she laid her head back on his shoulder and he grinned as he walked into his room, shutting the door behind them.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Jack woke to find himself curled around Buffy's sleeping form. He inhaled her soft vanilla scent as he nuzzled her hair. Sometime during the night, his hand had slid under Buffy's shirt and he took a moment to gently stroke the soft skin he had found, causing Buffy to shift slightly in her sleep.

A lazy smile crossed his lips as he continued to caress the skin under his fingers. This was a nice change from the past few weeks. Once he had convinced Buffy that the others wouldn't condemn her for sleeping next to him, they had frequently woken like this. Only difference was this time they were alone and in his bed rather than on the hard ground with their teammates just a few feet away.

They had nothing to do that day other than just enjoy each other's company. Nothing short of an apocalypse or aliens invading could stop him from pampering Buffy that day. Sure, she'd protest, but he knew she'd secretly enjoy it.

Besides, she deserved it. She'd had a lot thrown at her over the past two weeks. Her secret identity wasn't so secret anymore, Sam hadn't been very cooperative, and she had to lead two teams to kill some alien vampires – one of which nearly caused death number three. And really, Jack didn't want to find out if three really was the magic number.

Buffy shifted again, only this time her eyes fluttered open. She arched slightly into his touch as she stretched her body in a manner that reminded Jack of a cat. The tiny blonde turned so she could look up at him. "Mornin', you."

"Morning, yourself," he said, dipping down to kiss her softly. After a moment he broke the leisure kiss.

"What's the plan for the day?" She asked, playing with the short hairs at the nape of his neck.

"You are to do nothing," he said gallantly.

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "And what are you going to be doing while I'm busy with this nothing?"

"Taking care of you."

"Jack," she whined.

"Buffy," he whined back. Then seriously he said, "Please, indulge me. I want to do this for you."

She chewed slightly at her lower lip. "Fine, but only today. I know Hammond gave us a few days off, but you should spend some time relaxing, too."

"Oh, I plan on it," he said with a grin, kissing her deeply again.

XXXXXXXXX

Buffy's laughter could be heard as she emerged from the event horizon. Her boot clad feet barely made any noise on the metal grate as she walked down the ramp. "Sharon had you pegged from the start," she told Dave. She handed her P-90 to the waiting SF.

"And she's used that particular tactic to get her way ever since," he said with a suffering sigh.

"Face it, Dave. You're a better man because she keeps you in line," Buffy teased.

"She rules with an iron fist," Jeff said as SG-13 headed out of the gateroom and made their way to the infirmary.

"And wait until you meet her, she's no bigger than you," Simon added.

Buffy laughed even harder. "Oh my god! No wonder you took the knowledge of my slayer abilities in stride."

"Watch it, midget, you're no match for Sharon. Especially when she gets that 'look' in her eye," Dave said with a shudder. He scowled when Buffy only laughed harder.

They stepped into the infirmary and Buffy's laughter was cut short. Her face paled and she froze in place.

As one, SG-13 followed her gaze and an unsettling feeling settled in the pit of the stomachs as they saw the source of Buffy's distress. Jack was laying unconscious on one of the beds.

Dave slipped an arm around Buffy's slim shoulders. "I'm sure he's fine, Summers. There aren't any wounds and Carter is in the same state."

The tiny slayer mutely nodded her head. Simon grabbed a chair and positioned it so Buffy could sit next to the bed. Trembling, she reached out to take Jack's hand. Behind her, she could hear Dave talking to Dr. Fraiser.

"What happened?"

"We don't know," the petite doctor said. "Teal'c brought them back like this."

"Where's Jackson?"

Janet hesitated before explaining. "There's something else wrong with Daniel. We think that somehow he's had several personalities imprinted onto his brain. He's currently in isolation."

The tiny doctor moved over to Sam and began a brief examination. "Her pupils are still dilated. It's as though they were struck with a powerful zat weapon."

Buffy's heart began to race as Jack began to shift. "Janet!"

"Oy," Jack said as Janet came over.

Janet looked at one of the orderlies. "Inform General Hammond that the Colonel is awake," she said as she moved to the other side of his bed.

Jack squinted up at Buffy. "Hey, you."

"Hey, yourself," she said softly, unshed tears shining in her eyes.

He looked over at Janet. "Hey, Doc."

"How are you feeling, sir?"

"Headache, bad," he said, squinting against the bright light.

"I can take care of that, but first I need to know if you're feeling like… well, like yourself."

Buffy frowned as she looked across the bed at Janet. "That's an odd question," she said.

Janet nodded briefly at her, before saying, "Just answer the question, Colonel."

"Other than this nail through my head, I'm fine. Why?"

"I'll explain later. Teal'c managed to get the three of you back through the stargate from the ship."

"Carter and Daniel?" Jack asked as he looked around.

"Sam is still out," Buffy said.

"Janet," came a pain filled voice from behind Buffy.

"Or not," the slayer dryly corrected herself as Janet went back over to Sam.

"How did your mission go?" Jack asked, squeezing her hand.

"Apparently better than yours," she said. "I still haven't been checked out yet. You guys kinda have the high priority at the moment."

"Can't imagine why," he said with a grimace.

General Hammond walked in and was pleased to see that the two members of SG-1 were awake. "Colonel, Major? How are you feeling?"

"Got a nail in my head, sir."

He smiled at Jack, comforted that at least the Colonel's humor was intact. "That sounds like our Colonel O'Neill."

"Their EEG's show normal brain activity, sir. They appear to be unaffected."

"Unaffected? By what?" Jack asked. He looked around and noticed someone was missing. "Where's Daniel?" He asked, trying to sit up.

"Jack, I don't think you should be moving yet," Buffy said, placing her free hand on his chest to stop him.

"I'm fine," he protested.

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Are you now?"

He winced and pressed his palm to his forehead. "Ow… No, I'm not," he said, lying back down.

"Can you be in here every time he gets hurt?" Janet teased. "I've never seen him give in like that."

"Very funny," Jack said. "Where's Daniel?"

"We have him in isolation for the moment," Janet said gently. "And now I have to give some post-mission examinations."

Jack uncovered an eye and looked at Buffy. "I think she's talking about you."

Buffy pouted. "Shouldn't I stay here and make sure he doesn't try to run off?"

"I'll let you go first," Janet relented.

"Then let's get this over with," Buffy said with a sigh. The rest of SG-13 that had been silently waiting followed the two petite women.

What seemed like an eternity later, but was really just a short time, Buffy slipped off the bed after her examination. "Thanks, Janet," she said over her shoulder before making her way quickly back to Jack's side. He was already looking considerably better. "How's the headache?"

"Better. More like a push pin instead of a nail," he said, smiling as she took one of his hands. "Doc give you a clean bill?"

"Fit as a fiddle," she chirped, and then frowned.

"What's wrong?" He asked in concern.

"I was just thinking…."

"Uh oh," he teased.

She stuck her tongue out at him before continuing. "I never understood that saying. What makes a fiddle fit? It's not like it could gain weight or get clogged arteries…"

Jack laughed and then groaned as a hand went up to apply pressure to his forehead.

"Sorry."

"Not your fault. I should've known better than to laugh," he said, the tension leaving his body as the pain subsided again.

"So what happened? I thought you weren't scheduled for another mission until next week."

"We weren't. They were checking some of the addresses in the database when they picked up a distress beacon. So we set out to see if we could help."

"What did you find?"

"A crashed ship full of frozen people."

"Frozen people?"

Jack waved his free hand in a vague gesture. "You know that cryo something or other. They weren't dead, well, at least, not all of them. Just asleep for some crazy ass long journey."

"Gotcha. So if they were all asleep how did you get knocked out?"

"It might have been an automated defense," Sam supplied from her bed. "And it's called cryogenic sleep."

"See, the cryo thing," Jack said with a grin.

Buffy smiled as she saw Sam roll her eyes in response.


	21. Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Buffy followed Jack and Sam into the observation booth looking down on Daniel's isolation room once they had been cleared to leave the infirmary. Teal'c and General Hammond were already in there watching Dr. Fraiser talk to the personality residing in Daniel's body.

"O'Neill, Major Carter. I am pleased to see you have recovered," Teal'c said from his seat.

"How's he doing?" Buffy asked, moving closer to the window.

"Yet another personality from the downed ship has emerged. Though Dr. Fraiser appears to be making progress," Teal'c said.

"How many does that make?" Buffy asked, looking back at the General.

"At least three, maybe four," Hammond replied.

"How'd he get stuck in here?" Jack asked.

"Daniel Jackson's preliminary electroencephalogram proved anomalous," Teal'c calmly replied.

Jack's eyebrows rose. "I dare you to say that again."

"I'm impressed he said it the first time," Buffy said with a grin. She swore she saw one corner of Teal'c's mouth twitch slightly upwards.

"Dr. Fraiser declared a Code 17. Dr. Jackson has been under constant guard and only she and a few of her staff have had any direct contact, as a precautionary measure," Hammond said.

"Code 17?" Buffy asked.

"It means someone might be a Goa'uld so they lock them up," Jack explained.

"We've since ruled that out, but I'm not taking any chances until we can determine the means by which these additional persons have found their way into Dr. Jackson," Hammond said.

"To do that, I'd have to have another look at their cryogenic systems," Sam said. Buffy could practically see the gears moving in the scientist's head.

Hammond immediately saw where she was going. "Schedule a mission briefing with Dr. Fraiser as soon as possible."

Jack didn't hesitate before saying, "With you permission, sir, I'd like to stick it out here with Daniel."

"You realize that only medical personnel are allowed access?" Hammond gently reminded him.

"Yes, sir."

"Very well," Hammond said.

"I'll stay, too," Buffy volunteered when he looked over at her. The couple sat in the two chairs as the rest of them left. She took Jack's hand once they were alone and gently squeezed. "They'll find a way to fix this," she assured him.

"Yeah, they're smart like that," he said with a sad smile, squeezing her hand in return.

For the next half hour they watched as one of the crewman from the downed ship talk to Fraiser from his place inside Daniel's body. Tryan explained how impossible it would be separate all of the different consciouses from Daniel's body and yet leave his own intact. For the second time that day she felt her chest constrict in fear.

"Oh my god," she whispered.

"But remember he said that it should have been impossible for this to happen in the first place," Jack pointed out.

"Yeah, but he said they were all jumbled together now. What if they fix this, but a piece of Daniel is missing. An important piece?" She asked, tears filling her eyes.

"Carter is smart. She can fix this," he said, his own voice tight with tension. Jack tore his eyes away from Daniel long enough to share an empathetic look with her.

"I'm sorry," she sniffed slightly. "I'm trying to be all supportive for you, and instead you're doing it for me."

"Hey, he's your friend, too," he said reminded her gently.

She nodded, then froze as she watched the scene in the room below them. "I think something's happening," she whispered.

Daniel's head dropped and he clutched tightly at his hair. "They're pulling at me now. I don't know how long…"

"Tryan, stay with me," Janet nearly pleaded.

His head jerked up and looked around the room in confusion. "Janet?"

"Daniel?" She asked, her eyes going wide.

"What's going on?" He asked, looking at his wrists. The leather restraints limited his range of motion.

"Look, something has happened. I need you to stay with me, okay? Just hang in there," she said calmly, taking a few steps closer.

He swayed and Buffy could see immediately when the new personality took control of Daniel's body. His entire posture changed and his eyes went wide as he viewed his unfamiliar surroundings.

"Where am I?" His eyes got bigger as a hand flew up to his mouth. "What's wrong with my voice?" He asked in a hushed tone.

The personality turned towards the mirror and promptly screamed. "I'm in a man's body! How can I be in a man's body? I don't even know him!"

In the observation room Buffy began giggling. "He's a girl! Oh how awful for her."

Jack gave Buffy a wicked grin after the woman did a very feminine gesture in Daniel's very masculine body. "And me without my camera."

"You're going to torment him forever about this, aren't you?" She shrewdly asked.

"Yeah, sure, you betcha."

XXXXXXXX

Buffy sadly watched as yet another personality emerged. She was torn. Her friend was in danger and she wanted to be part of the mission to try and get some answers to help him. But a larger part of her wanted to stay with Jack and be there for him as well.

Jack's muttered curse pulled her attention. He wearily rubbed his eyes before returning his gaze to Daniel. "Christ, it's a kid."

She watched in horror as a small, lisped voice asked for his father. She only had an inkling of an idea of what Jack could be feeling as he watched the scared kid talk to Janet.

"Dammit, he can't be more than seven or eight from the sound of it," Jack said in a slightly choked voice as he sat back in his chair.

As the young boy, Keenin, told the story of why his people had to leave their planet Talthus, Buffy kept a close eye on Jack. She wanted nothing more than to hold him in her arms until his own heartache passed. The boy in Daniel's body began to cry as he told Janet that they had had to leave his mother behind. That the only family he had left was his father.

She could see the heavy weight of grief fall back on Jack's shoulders. Of its own volition, her hand reached out to comfort him, but was stopped by the menacing voice coming through the speakers.

"What are you doing?"

"Martice?" Janet asked in surprise.

"And the bastard is back," Jack said with a sigh, sitting forward once again.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tired of listening to Martice go on and on about being the sovereign, Buffy pushed her chair back from the table and stood up. She looked down at Jack. "I don't think he's going to be helpful. I'm gonna grab a bite to eat. Do you want anything?" She asked, knowing he wouldn't want to leave unless absolutely necessary.

"A sandwich and a cup of coffee would be great," he said with a sad smile.

"I'll be back," she said and then slipped out the door.

Her first intention was to gather enough food for her and Jack to take back to the observation room. However, as she started down the line, she noticed her team sitting at a table in the corner. She knew that they were probably already aware that somehow passengers from the downed ship had been imprinted on Daniel's brain. Other than that she wasn't sure how much they had been told. So she just put enough food on her plate for herself and went over to sit with them.

"How's Dr. Jackson?" Simon asked as she sat next to Dave.

"It's still not good," she said. "He's got personalities taking over left and right. Some of them are helpful, others not so much," she said with a wince as she remembered Martice's arrogance.

"I wish we could have gone with SG-1 back to that planet," Jeff said before taking a bite of his sandwich. "I know SG-12 will do their best to back them up, but…"

"I know," Buffy said with a small smile. "I feel the same way."

"Yeah, but we were too tired from our own three day mission," Dave pointed out.

"Think they'll figure it out?" Simon asked.

"Sam will," Buffy said confidently. "If there is something on that ship, she'll find it."

"How's Jack taking it?" Dave asked.

Buffy sighed as she put down her fork. "About as well as can be expected, I guess. I think he's taking this worse than when Teal'c was injured. At least then he could see improvements. Daniel just seems to get worse. He only surfaced that one time so we haven't seen him since last night."

"You'll let us know when something happens, right?" Jeff asked.

"Of course," she said, returning her attention back to her salad.

Her teammates seemed to sense that she needed a break from the topic and they purposely changed the subject to something a little lighter. As Buffy ate her salad, she let the men's silent support strengthen her before she returned to Jack.

Buffy had nearly finished her meal when a klaxon sounded and the gate technician's voice came over the intercom. "Unauthorized incoming wormhole."

The four members of SG-13 froze and looked up at each other in surprise.

"Think that might be the Major?" Simon asked.

"I don't know. How many teams are out?" Buffy asked as Jeff finished his drink.

"SG-1 and 12, and then three others," Dave supplied.

Without another word they dropped their forks and quickly got up from their table and made their way to the control room.

As they entered, they could hear Sam's voice through the speakers. "…a survivor, sir. He's agreed to undo what he's done to Daniel. But it has to be done here with his equipment, and I need to come there to get some of my own. I'd like for Janet to come back with us to monitor Daniel. Teal'c thinks we should bring Pharrin with us just in case."

"Very well, but leave SG-12 there," Hammond said. "Open the iris."

Buffy turned to the General. "I'll go tell Jack." He curtly nodded his head as he watched the iris spiral open. She turned to SG-13, but Dave stopped her.

"We'll stay here, and meet you at Daniel's room," he told her. "We'll provide guard duty for the guy from the planet."

Buffy's  hurried as she made her way through the SGC to Jack but when she reached the hall that Daniel was being held in, she practically ran to the observation room. She burst through the door and grinned at Jack. "Sam's found a way." 

"Really?"

"Yup. Apparently there was someone awake on the ship and he was the one who did this. He's going to undo it."

"Are we sure we can trust him?"

Buffy shrugged. "I doubt Sam would have brought him if she didn't think we could."

Jack nodded and their attention was pulled back to Daniel's room as the door opened to allow Sam and a man in a tan uniform to enter. They could see SG-13 standing in the hallway just in case.

The personality inhabiting Daniel's body jumped to attention before bowing at the man. "Office Pharrin, sir! Engineer Tryan, second rank."

Buffy was happy to see it was this personality. Out of all that had emerged, he had been the most helpful. If he could stay in charge then this should go smoothly.

"Tryan? Of course. Of all of our crew, you would've though this was not possible," Pharrin said warmly. It seemed he felt the same way towards him.

Tryan smiled. "And of all our crew, sir, you're the one who'd find a way to do it. How did you manage?"

"Our training and a shared will to survive. It is a strange way of living with others, but it is better than the alternative," he finished softly.  
"What of our ship and our passengers, sir?"

Buffy looked up as Teal'c entered the observation room. He nodded to her before standing at the window. She looked back down to the room.

"These people possess a device capable of transporting all our people to another world, perhaps even Ardena," Pharrin explained to Tryan. "It is very real and it will save our people. But in exchange they ask that their friend be returned to them as he was before. I believe it can be done if we act quickly. It is a reasonable bargain."

Tryan nodded in agreement. "I will do whatever is necessary, sir. Whatever you ask of me."

Jack leaned back in his seat and grinned up at Buffy. She could easily read the relief written across his face.

"No!" Daniel suddenly shouted, causing everyone to jump. "There will be no sacrifice of any kind! Office Pharrin, as your Sovereign I demand that you return me to the ship immediately!"

Pharrin automatically dropped to one knee and bowed reverently to Martice.

"Pharrin!" Carter said in surprise.

"We have sworn an oath to do his will. We cannot proceed," he said, not looking up.

"Officer Pharrin? I've given you a command. Do you understand me?"

"For cryin' out loud!" Jack said angrily, getting up and storming out of the observation room only to appear down in the isolation room. "Get up!" He barked.

"I've sworn to…"

Jack yanked Pharrin to his feet. "Your sovereign is dead!"

"But his soul lives on!"

"Not if I cut him out," Jack growled.

"You would not," Pharrin gasped.

"Oh, yes, I would," Jack said, his voice dropping to a menacing tone.

"Pharrin, you listen to me," Martice commanded.

"Don't listen," Jack said, forcing Pharrin to look at him. "You just do what you came here to do!"

He shakily nodded his head before turning back to Martice. "Forgive us, Sovereign. It is the only way to save our people."

"I will not surrender this body. Not at any cost! It is mine!"

"It was never ours to begin with!" Another personality voiced, probably Tryan.

Buffy watched in morbid fascination as the two personalities lodged in Daniel verbally warred with each other. If the situation wasn't so serious she was sure she'd find the whole thing funny.

Then suddenly they stopped and Daniel weaved slightly. "Father?" He asked in a small voice.

Tears sprung in Pharrin's eyes. "Keenin? I am so sorry, my son. You must sacrifice as well and we will be together. Do you understand?"

She watched as Jack's face paled as he understood. One of the souls Pharrin had saved was his own son. Now he was faced with the possibility of losing him completely. Forever.

"The people of Talthus will be safe, and they will remember us forever," Pharrin said, his voice thick with emotion.  
"But we'll be together?"

"We'll be together."

"Are you ready?" Sam asked.

Pharrin turned to look at her. "We are ready. We should do this quickly if there is to be any hope."


	22. Chapter TwentyOne

Chapter Twenty-One

Buffy restlessly paced her tiny office. She now wished that she had talked to Hammond about going with SG-1 and the med team back to the planet. It was driving her nuts not knowing what was happening. Plus, they had no idea how long the process would take so each minute that passed seemed to last an hour.

"I don't think the General wants to put in a request for a new floor," came Dave's amused voice from the doorway.

"What?" Buffy asked, stopping and looking at him in confusion.

"You're wearing a groove in the floor," Dave said, leaning against the doorframe. "Why don't you go to the gym and work off some of this extra energy?"

She shook her head. "My office is closer to the gateroom," she said before resuming her pacing, only to stop when Dave stepped in front of her.

He placed his hands on her shoulders in effort to try and hold her in place. "Summers, this is probably going to take a few hours. They've only been gone for fifteen minutes. I don't think it'll hurt you to go to the gym for a while." He gave her a knowing look. "Besides, you've been sitting in that observation room for nearly two days, only breaking long enough to sleep, and barely that. I'm surprised you haven't crawled out of your skin yet with all that excess energy."

"It's not fair," she claimed, crossing her arms.

"What's not?" He asked.

"That you're being all smart and leader-y. And how would you know about any excess energy?" She asked petulantly.

Dave rolled his eyes. "Summers, you're always underestimating me. Just because I'm military doesn't mean I'm an idiot. I thought you had figured that out by now."

She frowned. "I don't think you're an idiot. Believe me, if I thought you were, I wouldn't follow."

"That's reassuring," he said with a grin.

"But how did you know?"

He stepped away and leaned against her desk. "You've always seemed to have more energy than the rest of us, especially if you haven't sparred with anyone for a while. Once you let us in on your little secret it became more obvious and why."

"Huh?"

"Summers, you're smarter than this," he chided.

"Seriously, Dave, I've got no idea what you're talking about."

"It's the slayer part of you. It craves or needs action. It gives you more energy to do what needs to be done. And when you've had some downtime it kind of builds and makes you jittery."

Buffy pursed her lips and cocked her head to the side to study him. "And you figured that all out by watching me over the past two and a half months?"

"Most of it."

"And the rest?" She asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"I may have asked Jack a question or two," he admitted.

"Why?"

He sighed. "Buffy, apparently it's hard for you to believe that we care about you. That means worrying about you and wanting to know what to do to keep you safe and happy."

Buffy blinked at him in surprise. He had never called her by her given name before. It must have been to make sure it drove home how serious he was about what he'd said.

"Dammit, Summers, don't cry on me," he growled, seeing the tears in her eyes.

"Sorry, Dave," she said, giving him a watery smile. "Hopefully it'll only take a few more of these speeches from you for it to really sink in."

"I hope not," he said with a groan. "I'm not that great at this touchy, feely, emotion stuff. Just ask Sharon."

She giggled. "I will, as soon as you introduce us."

"Lord help us all when I do," he said walking over to her. He slung an arm over her shoulder and began guiding her out of the room. "So how about the gym?"

XXXXXXXXX

Jack stepped lightly back through the gate. The harrowing ordeal of the past several days was now coming to an end. He could see Buffy through the observation window above the gateroom. A huge grin spread across his face and he could tell she read his message loud and clear as she visibly relaxed.

"I trust things went well, Colonel," Hammond's voice came over the speaker as the rest of the party began emerging through the event horizon.

"Nail in the head good," Jack casually replied, turning to see Daniel emerge supported by a medic.

"I'd like to get him straight to the infirmary," Janet said, bustling about.

"Of course. Good work," Hammond said, before clicking the mic off.

Jack held back as Janet and her crew took care of Daniel. Now that his friend was back to normal, he could rest easy. When he finally exited the room, he saw Buffy waiting in the hallway.

"It's just Daniel left in his head?" She asked.

"Just the copious amounts of information of dusty rocks and books," he assured her. His arms itched to hold her, but he knew it would be wiser not to on the base.

"But is all of Daniel still there? I mean, parts of him weren't removed and sent wherever?" She worriedly asked. She hated to think her friend might have come out of this less than what he was.

"Pretty sure, and all of those other people went into the whackjob."

Buffy frowned at him. "Pharrin was only doing what he thought he needed to do to save his people."

It was Jack's turn to frown. "He had no right to do that to Daniel."

"I never said he did, just that I understand his motivations. What wouldn't you do to save SG-1?"

He sighed. "I get your point. Let me get cleared so we can blow this popsicle stand."

"I need to take a shower, but I want to see Daniel first," she said as they headed to the infirmary.

For the first time Jack noticed the thin layer of sweat on her skin and her damp locks. "What have you been doing?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Dave seemed to think I needed to work off some excess energy and dragged me to the gym."

"Was he right?"

"It was better than pacing and worrying," she admitted.

They entered the infirmary to see Daniel already hooked up to several monitoring machines. Buffy went to stand by Daniel's bed while Jack went to another for his examination.

"How are you?" She softly asked, minding his headache.

"Tired and my head's a little sore. It feels strange to have this huge gap of missing days. The last thing I remembered was splitting up to search the ship," he said, frowning slightly.

"That's gotta suck," she said, taking his hand and squeezing it.

"Is everyone else okay? Did they…"

"No, just you."

"It figures," he muttered under his breath.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Janet will let you out of here soon," Buffy said reassuringly. "Do you need anything?"

"Nothing that Janet will let me have," he said with a slight pout.

"I'll sneak you in some coffee later," she whispered.

"That would be heavenly."

A nurse came over to check some of the readings. Buffy smiled and released his hand. "I'll let them do their thing and I'll be back in a little while."

"Thank you, Buffy."

XXXXXXXX

The broken body lay lifelessly in his arms. His grief poured out of him as Charlie's blood spread out around them. Nothing he did could stop it. The harsh truth stared up at him in Charlie's blank eyes – his son was dead and it was all his fault. The sole responsibility rested on his shoulders and nothing could change it. He was forced to live with that knowledge for the rest of his life.

Darkness swirled around him. Threatening to engulf him. It was what he deserved and he went to surrender himself to it.

"Jack," a soft voice filtered through like a shining beacon. "Jack, wake up."

He fought against it even though his heart reached out to the honey-sweet voice. Charlie was dead because of him.

A hand gently touched his leg and the voice returned. "Come on, Jack. Wake up," it quietly insisted.

His voice hoarse and thick with emotion uttered his son's name as his eyes flew open and he sat up, reaching for him.

Jack's eyes searched the dark room. Hands cupped his face and guided his gaze to their owner. Tears filled his eyes as he recognized Buffy looking at him in concern. "Oh god," he choked out.

Buffy pulled him into her arms. "Shh, it's okay."

He clutched at her like a lifeline. "That poor boy," he cried, his body shuddering as he tried to hold back the sobs.

"I know," she soothed, knowing that the boy he was referring to was not his son, but the boy who had been inserted into Daniel's consciousness.

"How could his father do that to him? His own son! I don't understand," he nearly snarled.

In her heart Buffy understood that in Pharrin's twisted, broken mind that he had to save his son and that was the only way he could see to achieve the objective. Her mind, on the other hand, railed against the inhuman treatment of the young child. She couldn't even begin to imagine the pain Jack was feeling knowing he had lost his own child in a violent manner.

It was rare that Jack ever got like this, but the lack of sleep for several days compounded with his worry for Daniel and the reminder of his own painful past needed an outlet.

Jack knew that if Buffy had been anyone else, hell, even if he were alone, he would have just bottled these emotions up and shoved them back into the darkest recesses of his mind. Buffy was different, nearly from the start. Something inside him responded to her on a level that had never happened with anyone else. He knew that she didn't see him as any less of a man for showing her what he clearly thought of as a weakness. Perhaps it was because she was willing to show him her own vulnerable side.

So he let the emotions he had kept tightly penned up for the past few days out. Buffy was his anchor during the whirlwind of emotions. She seemed to know that he didn't need platitudes, just an opportunity to speak his peace.

As he calmed down, his body sagged wearily against her. She gently guided him back to a prone position. Instead of curling up to him like usual, she reversed it so he was the one being held. Safe in her embrace, he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

XXXXXXXXX

"How's Jackson?" Dave asked as he waited for Buffy to finish taping up her hands.

"Good. Still a little weirded out by everything, but he seems to be intact," she said brightly.

"Boring Jack to tears then," Dave translated.

"Yup. 'Course Jack is waiting for his opportune moment to drop a bombshell."

He looked at her with curiosity. "Bombshell?"

She grinned mischievously at him. "One of the personalities was a girl."

Dave let out a low whistle. "When did Jack learn this kind of restraint? I'm surprised he didn't immediately tease Jackson about it."

"He claims dealing with Daniel all of these years and not being allowed to kill him has finally taken its toll," she said, stepping onto the mat. "I told him he was just getting slow in his old age."

"Playing a dangerous game there, aren't you?" He teased, joining her on the mat.

Buffy shrugged. "No more than you," she said sweetly.

"What do you mean?"

"Simon told me about your first night on that planet hunting the vamps."

Dave could feel his heart begin beating faster. He could have sworn that Wells was joking with him. "Did he?" He casually asked.

"Yup. Never been referred to as 'pint-sized package' before," she said, cocking her head slightly to the side as if she were deep in thought.

"You know that I was only teasing."

"Oh yeah," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I was just thinking that I should let loose a little more during our sessions."

Dave swallowed nervously. "Really? I had thought of something else."

"What?"

"That it wouldn't hurt for you and Teal'c to start sparring some, that way you'd both have someone who could challenge your skills," he said.

"We've already set that up. We start next week." Her eyes got wide and innocent-like. "Besides, you're the one who wanted to know what my abilities were."

Sharon had always warned him that one day the things he said would come back to bite him in the ass. This was obviously his day of reckoning. He sighed and resigned himself to his fate. "Just don't break me."

She grinned at him. "I would never. Simon and Jeff would never forgive me."


	23. Chapter TwentyTwo

Chapter Twenty-Two

Buffy absently flipped through the channels. Nothing seemed to catch her eye or hold her attention for more than a few seconds. Lord she was bored without Jack there. This was the first time he was gone on an extended mission and she didn't have one of her own. She was fine as long was she was at the SGC, but the moment she was home, she was lost.

Home.

Her brow furrowed slightly at her use of the word, even just in her thoughts. When had Jack's house become her home, too? The decision to stay here wasn't wholly a conscious one. At first it was a matter of convenience, and then she had just… stayed. She realized she didn't want to move out and since Jack hadn't given her any hint otherwise, she assumed he felt the same.

Was this an indication of deeper feelings? For both of them? Or was it just that they were comfortable together? And if that was the case, was it a bad thing?

She groaned at all of the sudden questions running through her head. This was not how she wanted to spend her evening. All she wanted to do was lose herself in a movie for a few hours and then go to bed. She forced her attention back to the TV, but before she had a chance to resume her search, there was a knock at the door.

Buffy frowned as she got up to answer it. The only people who ever came over were SG-1 and she had just spoken to Giles the night before so it couldn't be the Scoobies. Cautiously she cracked open the door and blinked in surprise.

"Open up, Summers!" Dave commanded. "It's cold out here!"

"What are you doing here?" She asked, opening the door all the way. Again she was surprised by her entire team standing on the doorstep.

"I know you won't invite us in because it's after dark, but can ya stand aside so we _can_ come in?" Dave teased.

"Yeah, sure," she said, still in shock. She stepped aside and they came in carrying pizza and soda – even diet coke for her.

Jeff shut the door for her. "We thought you might like some company," he said with a small shrug.

"Really?" She asked, touched by the lengths the team would go to for her. It was hard to believe that these same guys had intimidated her in the beginning and that she had worried about fitting in.

"Buffy, you and Jack keep cards around here?" Simon asked from the kitchen.

"Yeah, top drawer of the cabinet in the dining room," she said, following her team. Dave and Simon had obviously been busy. Glasses were already pulled out and paper plates were sitting next to the five pizzas and two orders of cheesy bread. "Planning on feeding an army?" She dryly asked.

"No, just us," Dave said in all seriousness.

She raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment further. The next several minutes were spent filling her plate and getting situated in the dining room. She wasn't sure how they knew she needed this, but she wasn't going to question it.

"Please tell me you know how to play poker," Simon said, shuffling the deck.

"Let me get my cheat sheet," she said, going to the cabinet, carrying a slice of pizza in one hand.

"Cheat sheet?" Jeff asked.

"Yeah, tells me what beats what. I can never remember," she said sheepishly.

"Got another one?" he eagerly asked.

"Sure," she said, handing him one of the copies.

"Great! I do okay with poker, but I'm better at spades," he admitted, looking the paper over.

"Oh, I love spades," Buffy said, sitting back down. "Could we play that later?"

"Maybe," Dave said slowly.

"He's not very good at it," Jeff said in a conspiratorial tone.

Buffy's eyes twinkled with suppressed mirth. "Really? What a shame."

Dave sent her a glare that had no heat and all it did was cause her to giggle. "Watch yourself, Summers."

XXXXXXXXX

Daniel moved to stand next to Jack. They spent several long minutes staring out the window at the bustling city below. Daniel couldn't help but wonder if Earth would ever take on this 'futuristic' look – the flying cars and holographic billboards.

Without looking at Jack, he asked, "Was it me, or did that seem to be too easy?"

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, a small frown marring his face.

"Our two governments have been in talks for over a year, and in just two days _we_ were able to broker a deal."

"Maybe the diplomats loosened them up for us," Jack suggested.

Daniel sent him a withering look. "Jack, you're not really known for your patience, even when things _are_ going our way."

"Think Warrick had something to do with it?" Jack asked, his eyes following the traffic below them.

"I doubt it. He doesn't seem to have much influence in politics, although he may have said something."

"It's still a good thing, though. They're giving us one of those ion-things."

"Ion drive," Daniel absently corrected. 

"All Carter has to do is win the race and we can go home," Jack said, his satisfaction with how things were progressing clearly evident.

"That anxious?" Daniel asked, smiling at his friend.

"Maybe."

"Because we've been here for so long and Buffy's by herself?" Daniel shrewdly asked.

Jack sighed. "Partly."

Daniel grinned. "You miss her."

"What do you expect? Of course I do, she'd my girlfriend."

"Alright, Jack, I'm not going to tease you about it… too much."

"Watch it," Jack warned, turning his head to look at his friend. "I've got some stuff on you, too."

Daniel paused at Jack's look. He thought he knew everything Jack had on him, but apparently he had missed something. He waited to see if there was more but Jack didn't elaborate. The twinkle in Jack's eyes died and he looked back to the city. "What's wrong?"

"Buffy and I haven't gone on a date since our first one," Jack admitted. "And we know how well that one went."

"Oh, I don't know. Seemed like things were going well when Thor beamed you onboard."

"Ha, ha, Daniel. We've been dating for over a month  - two weeks of which were spent offworld fighting alien vampires - and I've only taken her on one proper date. And to top it off, I don't even know where people go for dates these days. It's been a while since I've had to do this."

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Daniel said, placing a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "You always do."

XXXXXXXXX

"You know this really wasn't necessary," Buffy said as Jack helped her out of the passenger side of his truck.

"I know," he said with a charming smile. "I wanted to and you deserve it." He was pleased by the faint blush that painted Buffy's cheeks.

"Still, I'm perfectly happy with spending my nights home alone with my…"

Her pause caused Jack to frown. "What?"  
"I'm not sure what to call you."

"Huh?"

"Well, normally I'd say you're my boyfriend, but you're definitely not a boy."

"Are you saying I'm a girl?" He teased.

"No, you're a man, not a boy, so boyfriend doesn't really apply to you. And significant other implies a much deeper relationship than what we currently have - not that we aren't super good, bestest friends," she hastily added. "But I always thought of it implying years spent together in that way."

Jack couldn't help but find Buffy's pout endearing as she tried to work it out in her head.

"I could just call you what my grandmother called my boyfriends," she said suddenly.

"And what was that?"

"My beau."

"Your beau. I kinda like that," Jack said.

"Then it's settled," she said, linking her arm with his. "So what movie are we going to see?"

"I've already picked it out," he informed her.

"Let me guess, it has all sorts of things exploding in it?" she shrewdly asked.

"You better believe it. And there might be a love story in there somewhere, I just can't guarantee it."

"You know me so well," she said with a laugh as they entered the cinema.

XXXXXXXX

Buffy sighed as she adjusted her sunglasses to look out over the vast expanse of plains before them. Most likely this was destined to be yet another boring trip through the gate.

"Fielding bets," Jeff said, his red hair bright under the sun.

"I'm going with a buried cache of weapons," Dave said, his eyes scanning the area.

"Hardly likely," Buffy snorted.

"Hey! You never know," he said with a grin.

"I can't go with my usual," Jeff said with a pout. "We already know that there are ruins threes miles from here."

"Yeah, but you could always say what we'll find in those ruins," Buffy happily pointed out to him.

"Alright, I say we'll find… an Ancient repository of knowledge in the ruins."

"One of those things on the wall that Jack got his head stuck in a few years ago?" Dave asked.

"Yes, one of those," Jeff answered before turning to his other male teammate. "Simon?"

"I'll go with trees."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "We're in the middle of a huge plain that probably goes on for hundreds of miles."

"I still go with trees."

"Smart ass," Dave said.

"And Buffy," Jeff said, guiding them back on topic.

"I think we're going to find a civilization hiding in plain sight."

"Hiding in plain sight?" Dave asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah. I think that it's just as likely as your hidden cache of weapons," she said cheekily.

"It's your bet," Dave said with a shrug. "Let's move out, people. We've got a ways to walk."

Buffy adjusted her pack as she took the right flank. "It's a good thing I'm used to walking everywhere, otherwise this would have gotten really old, really fast."

"You have your driver's license," Jeff said in confusion.

"That actually came much later in life. Me and driving was kind of like oil and water, and mom definitely wasn't keen on me driving because of it. It wasn't until we moved to Cleveland that I even got my license."

"Wow, a high school girl without a license or a car. That's a novelty these days," Dave said with a smirk.

"You just wait until your kids are old enough to drive," Simon teased.

"Look who's talking, you've got one on the way yourself," Dave shot back.

Simon couldn't help but puff up with pride. "I do at that."

"How's Marci doing?" Buffy asked.

"She's great, the baby's healthy. So far it's shaping up to be a normal pregnancy."

"How far along is she?" Jeff asked.

"Six months. She's showing and she's gorgeous."

"I wish I had my camera for that awestruck look," Buffy giggled.

Simon looked slightly affronted. "Hey! Can I help it that I think my pregnant wife is gorgeous?"

"Yeah, that'll wear off after two or three kids," Dave informed him. "Don't get me wrong, Sharon is a gorgeous woman, but I could do without all of the hormone mood swings."

"What's the matter? Is little Davey afraid of his big bad wife?" Buffy joked.

"You haven't met her yet," Dave said ominously. "Which reminds me, she wants you and Jack to come over for dinner sometime soon."

"I'll tell Jack," she said with a smile. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Figures," Dave muttered, knowing perfectly well that she'd catch it with her sensitive hearing.

Buffy laughed as they continued their way through the waist high grass.

A few hours later, Buffy stood staring at one of the few remaining walls that was still standing with Jeff. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

He looked down at her in confusion. "For what?"

"I don't think you are going to win this bet," She said.

"And how would you know that?"

"I'm not an expert, but I have seen enough of the Ancient writing to know that this isn't it. And no Ancient writing means not an Ancient ruin, which probably means no Ancient thingamajig," she said with a shrug. Peering closely at the wall, she asked, "Any idea what this is?"

Jeff shook his head. "I've never seen it before. Dr. Jackson will be excited though," he said with a grin.

"Probably. You lovable geeks are all ali-" she stopped.

He froze next to her, recognizing that Buffy was sensing something. Her eyes searched the crumbled ruins around them and stopped when she saw movement.

"There," she whispered, pointing at a pile of stone. They crouched down and silently moved closer.

"Bless the chicken," Jeff said. "It's a little girl."

Buffy, used to Jeff's quirky sayings, barely spared him a glance and concentrated on their unexpected visitor. The girl looked to be barely more than eight and had a mess of long brown curls. She was calmly walking through the ruins. She stopped next to something they couldn't see and gave it her full attention.

Jeff looked at Buffy in surprise as she handed him her P-90. "What's this for?"

"I'm going to go talk to her," she explained, taking her pack and vest off as well.

"Are you nuts? You can't remove all of that," he said, his voice rising slightly in panic.

"Jeff, it's just a little girl and I don't want frighten her with all of this. I can't gain her trust if she's scared of me at first glance."

"This could be a trap," Jeff argued.

"It's just a little girl."

"But it could be a trap, hence the innocent little girl to lure you in."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I'm not sensing anything. I would know if there was something unnatural around."

"Unnatural doesn't mean anything. The people themselves could be evil. Jaffa and demons aren't the only evil out there."

"Believe me, I know," Buffy said. "I've seen too much of what normal humans can do to _not_ believe that, but I think this is going to be okay."

"But Dave won't li-"

"He's not here right now, I am. I'm going," she interrupted, setting her stuff on the ground. She slowly stood and made her way over to the little girl.

Jeff remained tense as he watched Buffy crouch down to talk to the girl. From where he was hiding, he could see the girl hand Buffy something and the slayer put it in her mouth. "I hope that wasn't poisonous," he muttered.

He could see Buffy digging around in her pants pockets, probably for the ever-present candy bar she carried. It had only taken a few times of her eating the MREs to get Buffy to start bringing her own snacks to supplement them out in the field, and the chocolate bar was always part of her kit.

The little girl smiled up a Buffy as she chewed happily on the candy. Buffy pointed over at him and the girl waved. He hesitantly waved back. Buffy said a few more words to the girl and then walked back over to him.

"She said her people live in the ground under the ruins, literally calling it the Underworld. They only come up to 'visit' the Overworld, but can't stay. Something about the snake demons getting them if they do," she informed him.

"Probably the goa'uld," Jeff said.

"That's what I'm thinking. Kayla has offered to take us to meet her people in the Underworld," Buffy explained, reaching for her radio. "Hey Dave! You guys owe me dinner," she said with a grin.


	24. Chapter TwentyThree

**A/N:** I'm returning to the previous posting schedule for this fic – every other Sunday. I've almost finished writing the fic and it's coming to a grand total of 30 chapters and then an epilogue. Once the fic is completely written and chapters are beta'd, I'll start updating every Sunday.

**A/N2:** The last scene actually contains a smut scene. In accordance to the rules of this site, it's been removed. However, if you are old enough to read it, feel free to go to my profile and follow the link to Twisting the Hellmouth. You can read the chapter in its entirety there.

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

"Buffy, what in the hell were you thinking?" John asked, his disbelief clearly heard through the phone line.

"If I had gone over there with all of my stuff it would have scared her half to death," Buffy argued. She had already had this conversation with both Dave and Jack.

"That's highly besides the point. It could have been a trap. You're smarter than that," he said in exasperation.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Buffy really didn't want to go through all of this again, so she tried to change the subject. "So, how's Cleveland?"

"Oh, no! No distractions!"

"John, I get it, really. Don't remove my weapons in the field. Never going to happen again. Can we move on, please?"

"Did _he_ and Dave already do this?" He asked, sensing there was more than what she said.

"'Til they were blue in the face," she said with a sigh.  
"Fine, but if this happens again, I'm coming back to knock some sense into you," he warned. "Remember, you're not infallible. You can make mistakes."

"Agreed, so how's Cleveland?" She asked, thankful to be moving on.

After a moment he asked, "Is Faith always like that?"

"Like what?" She prompted with a grin.

"Lewd."

"Only on a bad day. On good days she's downright naughty," Buffy teased. She laughed when she heard him groan. "I wouldn't worry about it. She's just letting you know that she likes you. How about everyone else?"

"Giles was a bit leery until I proved I knew what I was doing. He's got me teaching martial arts classes to the younger ones."

"That's great," Buffy said.

"Yeah, except they're preteens and they think I'm cute," he said in disgust. "Stop laughing! It's not funny!"

"But it is!" She insisted between giggles.

"I don't like fending off advances from children. I keep waiting for them to write something on their eyelids."

"What?"

"Like in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The girl wrote 'love you' on her eyelids and kept doing this slow blink thing so Indy could read it."

"Oh, yeah. It's been a while since I've watched it," she said, suddenly remembering the scene. "But it's still cute."

XXXXXXXXXX

Buffy nervously wiped her hands on her jeans. While she knew the other members of her team had individually come over to Dave's house for dinner, this was her first time visiting.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud, relax, will ya. Sharon's going to love you," he said, grabbing one of her hands and giving it a light squeeze.

"You've met her?" Buffy asked, looking up at him.

"Several times, and I'm still here," he said with a chuckle before knocking on the door.

A few moments later, the door swung open to reveal a twelve-year-old boy with light brown hair. "Jack!" he cried out, "Come in! Come in!"

Buffy winced at the invitation, but didn't say anything.

"Caleb, what did I tell you about inviting people in?" Dave asked, coming down the hallway.

"Sorry, dad," the boy said with a sigh.

"Summers, Jack. Good to see you," Dave said, shaking Jack's hand. "This is my second oldest, Caleb."

Caleb waved hello as Dave introduced Buffy to him, and as he shut the door behind them, he said, "Let me take your coats."

Jack helped Buffy out of hers before shrugging his own off. Dave quickly hung them up before leading them into the living room.

"That's my oldest, Joey," he said, indicating the teenager sitting on the sofa who looked like and older version of Caleb. The boy didn't even look up from the video game he was playing. "You'll be lucky if you get a word out of him that's not dripping with teenage sarcasm," he said with a roll of his eyes, before moving to lead them farther into the house.

He had barely taken a step before a small child came running through the living room. Dave quickly swooped down to pick him up. He promptly turned the boy upside down and hooked the boy's legs over one of his powerful arms. "No running in the house munchkin. At least, not while your mother is home," he added, causing the boy to giggle.

Dave easily swung him back up into a more traditional hold. "This is our youngest, Matthew. He's seven. Matthew, this is a member of my team, Buffy Summers, and you already know Jack."

The little boy shyly waved at them before burying his face into Dave's shoulder.  
"Ack, stop that. You're giving them the wrong idea," Dave teased the boy. He looked back at his guests. "Normally he'd be talking your ear off. Come on, Sharon and Elizabeth are in the kitchen." He led them through a swinging door.

Buffy smiled at the large, cheerful room. It had been done in a bright yellow with green accents with an island in the center providing even more countertop space in what was obviously an often-used room. A woman, no taller than herself, was bustling about the kitchen with a young girl.

Dave leaned over and in a stage whisper said, "It's best to stay out of her way, she gets a little nasty if she has to work around you."

"Don't be saying such crazy things, David. You know it's only you who gets in my way in the kitchen," came a distinct southern voice.

The slayer blinked in surprise. She knew Dave had met Sharon while he was stationed in Mississippi, but for some reason she just never expected her to still have the southern drawl.

Sharon handed the girl a spoon and said, "Keep stirrin' the sauce," before turning around to greet her guests.

Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled back with a scarf. Even though she had had four children, she hadn't lost her girlish figure. A fact that was accented by the neat clothing she wore. Although the look was marred only slightly by the brightly flowered apron she wore.

"Oh, sugah, you must be Buffy," she enthused, giving her a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Aren't you just a pretty thing?"

"What am I, chopped liver?" Jack teased.

"You old flirt," she said, stepping back from Buffy to smack Jack on the arm with the towel she held in her hand. "Always stirrin' up trouble," she said, reaching up to give him a hug and a kiss.

Buffy grinned. It seemed Sharon knew him pretty well. Although, in all fairness, anyone who met Jack for more than five minutes could figure that out.

"You look like you're staying well fed. Good. There's nothing worse than a man who doesn't have enough meat on his bones." Sharon turned back to her daughter. "Elizabeth, you can stop stirring now and come meet our guests."

Elizabeth obviously took after her mother's features, but at eleven years old, she was already as tall as her mother. It looked like she would get the best of both worlds – her mother's looks and her father's height.

After introductions were made, Sharon shooed them out of the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes. David, why don't you show them around the house."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, heading for the door, still holding Matthew in his arms.

While they toured the home, Buffy noticed that the house was neat, but it had a very lived in feeling to it. Whether it was from the football stashed in the corner of a bookcase where a son probably quickly tucked it away, to all of the family pictures that adorned the walls and shelves she couldn't tell but it was definitely a comfortable, loving place to live in.

Fifteen minutes to the second later, Sharon announced dinner was ready and the two oldest boys rushed into the dining room. Matthew squirmed in Dave's arms until he let him go. The three adults followed at only a slightly more sedate pace.

Buffy's eyes widened at the amount of food that had been prepared. She had only ever seen a dinner like this laid out for special holidays. There was enough food to satisfy even the pickiest of eaters.

Conversation flowed easily through the meal, although Joey only let out the occasional grunt or monosyllabic answer to questions. She could see Dave fighting the eye roll at the bullish behavior, while Sharon sent the oldest son a stern glance.

It was from that look that Buffy finally began to understand exactly what Jeff and Simon had been talking about. There was pure steel behind it and she would have hated to have that same look directed at her. To his credit, Joey acted like it didn't bother him, but she couldn't help but notice that afterwards he was a little more polite when asked a question.

After dinner, the two oldest boys wordlessly cleared the table and started washing dishes without being asked, while Elizabeth took care of putting the leftovers away. Sharon thanked each of them in turn for doing their chores and smiled lovingly at them. Then she turned to Dave and gave him a pointed look.

"Right, right," he said, standing up. "Jack, why don't you and I take Matthew down to the den. He's got a new game you should see."

For a moment it looked as if Jack was going to object, but Sharon sent him a pointed look as well. "Sounds great," he said, quickly standing and following Dave and Matthew out the door.

Buffy suddenly found herself alone with the powerhouse that was Sharon Dixon. Her nervousness from earlier in the evening slammed into her as she felt like she was meeting the parents of her boyfriend. Not like she had ever experienced that before. Angel and Spike's parents had long since passed away, and Riley's lived halfway across the country. This was new territory and it terrified her.

"Oh, come on now, sugah. Don't look so scared," Sharon said with a soft smile. Her southern accent giving her a brief sense of relief. "I'm not goin' to hurt ya."

Buffy tried to smile back, but she knew that it probably came out looking more like a grimace.

"I just want to check and make sure that Jack is treating you okay."

The slayer blinked in surprise. "What? I thought this was going to be you assessing me."

"I already know you're wonderful. My David speaks very highly of you. He's had nothing but good things to say about you since the day you joined his team. He's a good judge of character, and if he says you are good people, then you are. Because of that, I'm making sure that Jack is taking care of ya."

Buffy blushed. It was rather nice to have an older, female figure looking out for her. While Giles was great, he wasn't her mother and there were things she would never be able to discuss with him because of it.

"Yeah, he takes care of me," she said shyly.

Sharon reached out to pat one of her hands. "That's good. If he doesn't, you just let me know and I'll take care of it. Now, there's something else I wanted to discuss with you."

"What's that?" Buffy asked, fear gripping at her again, only less so this time.

"I know you haven't lived out here for very long, and there's no way you've had a chance to meet a lot of people outside of work, 'cause I know how much of your time it eats up. I just want you to know that if you ever need anything, all you have to do is ask."

"I will," Buffy said.

"No, I mean it," Sharon said, gripping Buffy's hand. "I know people say that all the time, but from where I come from, your friends are as close as family and you take care of family. And I don't care how small it is. If Jack is gone and you need a cup of flour, you just call me. Day or night, and I will help you."

Buffy could feel the skin around her eyes tingling slightly as they wanted to tear up, but she blinked a couple of times to force them away. This woman she had just met was opening her arms and welcoming her into her own home. A home that Buffy could clearly see was filled with love and laughter. She wasn't sure how she had been graced with such a wonderful team and then family, but she wasn't going to argue with it.

"I'll remember that," Buffy said sincerely. "On one condition."

"Name it."

"I want to hear the whole story about the day Dave met you. I've heard his version, and now I want the truth," she said with a wicked grin.

Sharon laughed. "Oh, sugah. I do like you."

XXXXXXXXX

"You and Dave are such cowards," Buffy said with a laugh as they walked down the hall towards their bedroom.

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked defensively.

"The two of you left me alone with his wife. She gives you one little look and you both scurry off like mice running from a cat."

"Yeah, but I see you survived," he pointed out, reaching out to pull her into his arms.

"Only because she likes me and she feels bad for me having to deal with the both of you all the time," she said with a smirk.

Jack frowned. "And we did not scurry."

"Right," Buffy said sagely with a nod of her head. "You're men, and men don't scurry. You scamper," she said, rising up on her toes to give him a quick kiss.

"Why do I think it's a bad idea that we introduced you to Sharon?" He mumbled against her mouth.

"Because you know me all too well," she replied, pressing her lips more insistently against his own.


	25. Chapter TwentyFour

**A/N: **Just a heads up, this chapter jumps ahead several months. I thought long and hard about this decision, cause I could have written more scenes and adventures that flowed with season seven. However, they really would have amounted to filler. You've met everyone you really need to, relationships are established, and to be perfectly honest to have written everything that would happen would have made this a ridiculously long and boring fic. And yes, we're coming up on that episode and I've made my decision (seeing as how I wrote that chapter in June) but I'm gonna let you find out for yourselves...

**Chapter Twenty-Four **

Buffy chewed on her lower lip as she and Jack stood outside of General Hammond's office door. They hadn't been given reason for the summons, only that he wanted to see the two of them. She worried that perhaps he discovered that the nature of their relationship had changed and was going to reprimand them.

Even though she had been there for seven months and more than proven her abilities, some of the rumors that had started when she arrived were still floating around. The General had ignored them before, but perhaps someone had offered proof.

It wasn't as if they had actively tried to hide their nearly four-month relationship, but they didn't exactly advertise it either. They knew that they were treading on shaky ground work-wise when they decided to take the next step and they acted accordingly whenever they were on base, but perhaps that wasn't good enough for Hammond.

Jack gave her a reassuring smile before opening the door and gesturing for her to enter. General Hammond's regarded them with a serious expression that did nothing to ease her butterflies.

"Have a seat," he said, and waited until they were comfortable before continuing. "I just got off of the phone with the President and I wanted to give the both of you a head's up."

He handed Jack a folder. "In two days a documentary film crew will arrive to ostensibly chronicle the 1,000 trip through the gate, but they're also going to be conducting interviews with several of the employees here."

Buffy's eyes widened. "But – "

Hammond smiled gently at her and raised one hand to silence her. "I've discussed this with the President and he agreed. You are not to be interviewed. Although you are a member of my command, you are in a unique situation. The crew is here to document the SGC only, not slayers. We are more than aware of the need to keep you and the others' identities a secret. Any of your mission files that he'll have access to will have no mention of your extraordinary abilities."

"Thank you," she said gratefully, her stomach finally settling.

"As an added precaution, I'll be using your team to replace SG-10 on the mission to P3X-666. I know you just returned from a four-day mission yesterday, but this is a simple survey only. One day."

Jack looked at him hopefully. "What about SG-1, sir?"

"I'm afraid as our frontline team you will need to cooperate with the film crew. I'm sorry, Jack." The General looked sincerely apologetic about having to give the order.

XXXXXXXX

The familiar sound of the wormhole disengaging fizzled behind them as SG-13 went down the stargate's steps. Dave barely glanced at the MALP sitting next to the DHD as he scanned their surroundings. "Okay, Balinsky, which way?"

The redhead took a moment to get his bearings from the compass before pointing slightly to the right. "That way."

Dave nodded. "I'll take point. Wells, Summers you're rear guard, five meter spread. Keep your eyes open."

"The MALP showed no indication of any recent Goa'uld activity," Jeff said absently before holding up his notebook. "Taking bets."

"Uh, abandoned naquadah mine," Simon said.

"Boring, but good odds. Summers?" Dave asked, his eyes still searching.

"I'm going with a six foot flower," Buffy said cheerfully, earning strange looks from all three of her teammates.

"Highly doubtful. I'll go with two-headed aliens," Dave said.

"Hostile or friendly, sir?" Simon asked, his gear jingling slightly as he adjusted the way his pack rested on his shoulders.

"One head good, one head bad."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "And you doubt my six-foot flower."

Dave just glared at her before turning to their archaeologist. "Balinsky?"

Jeff looked at him like he had gone mad. "Ruins of an Ancient city."

"Big surprise," Dave muttered before heading in the direction that Jeff had indicated, the others falling into position. "Summers, I want to thank you."

"For what?"

"For getting us out of the interviews. Sharon wasn't particularly happy about me leaving again so soon, but I'd rather deal with her wrath than be interviewed."

"Same here," Simon added. "Marci was in near tears, but she understood."

Buffy instantly felt guilty for being the indirect cause of her teammates family strife.

"It's okay, Summers. We understand why Hammond did this and we support it," Dave said, not even turning around to look at her.

"Gotcha," Buffy said. Knowing Dave would push it, she opted for a subject change and turned to Simon. "Are you and Marci ready for the baby?"

"Just about," Simon said with a smile. "The baby room is decorated and we've already received several gifts. Her baby shower is in two weeks. She'd love to have you there."

"I'd be happy to," Buffy grinned back. "Are you ready to deal with a baby though?"

"I think so. We've taken some classes – "

"That won't really prepare you," Dave interrupted. "They don't tell you about all night screaming, projectile vomiting, nuclear diapers. You have no idea. The reason they make them so damn cute is so you don't suffocate them in their sleep."

Buffy laughed. "Dave, you have four wonderful kids."

"Yeah, why do you think I enjoy my job so much? Don't get me wrong, I love the buggers to death but trust me, having four kids makes going through the stargate and facing off against alien bad guys look like nothing. This is relaxing," he informed them, wading through the waist high grass as they passed several trees.

Simon snorted. "They why'd you have four?"

"Well, one's pretty bad, but you figure you got to have two so the little guy can have a brother or sister, right? Then you have two boys and Sharon says she wants a girl, so you figure – hell, three can't be much worse than two. But you don't realize your brain is fried because you haven't slept and after three, four is no big deal. Then you're so deep in that nothing seems to matter anymore. It's chaos. You just try to make it through each day alive. In the end you spend all the energy you have left trying to get them into bed, only to lie awake praying they don't get hooked on drugs, hurt, or worse, wind up dead in an alley somewhere."

"Can't wait," Simon said with a grin.

"So when can we expect the fifth?" Buffy teased.

"What are you getting on about, Summers?" Dave growled.

"You're already 'deep into the chaos'. Five can't be much worse than four," she said with a giggle.

"Hell, no. I put my foot down with four."

"And if Sharon wants another?" Jeff asked.

Dave looked at him in horror. "Don't even joke about that."

They all laughed and Buffy leaned into Simon to whisper in a conspiratorial tone, "We should be hearing about the fifth one any day now."

"Summers! I heard that!"

"I'm going to tell Sharon you're thinking of having a fifth child," Buffy said cheerfully.

"You do and I'll… be damned," Dave trailed off as they stepped into a clearing. The ground dropped slightly in front of them and the ruins of a city were laid out before them.

"I win," Jeff said, his mouth gaping slightly. "I really won this time."

"First time for everything," Dave uttered softly.

XXXXXXXXX

Daniel looked up as Jack sauntered into his office then went back to perusing the footage SG-6 had brought back from their mission.

"Done your interview yet?" Jack asked, sitting down.

"Not yet. You?"

"Sort of," Jack said slowly, picking up a nearby book and thumbing through it.

Daniel pulled his gaze from the screen to give him a disapproving look. "Jack."

"I provided them with very important information about myself," Jack said, his face serious.

"Mary Steenburgen again?" Daniel shrewdly asked.

Jack shrugged. "She's hot."

Daniel sighed and returned to the screen. "You know Hammond will probably force you to sit through an actual interview eventually."

"Yeah, but I can have my fun until then," Jack said with a smirk.

The next few minutes were filled only with the sound of Daniel randomly pressing keys on his keyboard. Jack busied himself with picking up every object within easy reach, giving it a cursory look, and setting it back down. Eventually Daniel gave up trying to concentrate and said, "Was there anything in particular you needed or did you come in here for the express purpose of annoying me?"

Jack looked up. "Sorry. I just needed a place to think."

"And you chose my office?"

"I think better in here," Jack replied.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, just things," Jack said, lightly jabbing his finger into the arm of the chair.

"Work things? This documentary crew thing? Buffy things?" Daniel carefully watched Jack's reactions and knew he hit the nail on the head when he mentioned Buffy. "Did you do something to upset her again?"

"Again? What do you mean, again?" Jack asked defensively.

"You have a history," Daniel pointed out.

"No, I didn't upset her," Jack said with a frown.

"Then what's wrong?"

Jack didn't reply and Daniel patiently waited until his friend was ready to admit to whatever was bugging him. With Jack it was always a delicate balance of pushing and waiting. It was obvious he was ready to talk since he had come to him; it was just a matter of time until he got it out.

"I love her," he softly admitted.

"That's great, Jack, but I don't see how that's a problem," Daniel said, his brows furrowing.

"It's complicated."

"Then explain it to me."

Jack stood and began moving restlessly about the office. Picking up objects and sitting them back down without really looking at them. "I'm afraid she'll run if I tell her."

"There's a switch."

"Daniel, her track record with relationships is as bad, if not worse, than yours."

He frowned. "I'm not sure I follow you."

The older man stopped and looked at him. "At sixteen she fell in love with a 240 year old vampire cursed with a soul. They made love on her seventeenth birthday triggering a clause in his curse causing him to lose his soul."

"Wait a minute," Daniel interrupted him. "She dated a vampire?"

"Yes."

"Cursed with a soul?"

"That's what I said. And you say I don't listen," Jack said with a roll of his eyes.

Daniel pushed his glasses back up his nose from where they had slipped. "Sorry. Continue."

"Right, for months she had to watch a monster wearing the face of the man she loved terrorize, injure, and kill her friends. She finally was able to face him during an apocalypse. He had activated this hell-dimension demon and only his blood, his death would close it."

"Hell-dimension demon?" Daniel interrupted again.

"I don't know, something like that. It had been dormant or something. I didn't really understand that part," Jack said irritably.

"Right," Daniel said, not the least bit surprised by that fact. "Continue."

Jack rubbed his eyes before speaking again. "Problem was, seconds before she struck, his soul was returned to him. A soul with no memories of the previous months. But to save the world she sacrificed the man she loved. Sent him to hell, literally. And that was after her mom kicked her out the house. The relationships didn't get much better from there."

Daniel's mind reeled at the horror Buffy had to endure at such a young age. He'd had his own problems dealing with Sha're and Sarah. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

Jack seemed to deflate and he sank back down into the chair. "Not your fault. She doesn't exactly go around telling everyone. But I know how badly it had messed her up. I met her two months later while she was living on her own in L.A."

"I can understand your fear, and definitely hers, but she has a right to know."

Jack sighed. "I know."

XXXXXXXXX

Simon and Buffy took a break while Jeff eagerly examined the ruins. The stone they were sitting on wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was better than standing.

"Marci had a sonogram yesterday," Simon said with a grin.

"Please tell me you have a picture," Buffy nearly squealed as he pulled one out of his vest pocket. "Do you know the sex yet?" She asked, looking at the fuzzy picture.

"A boy," Simon said proudly.

"Aww. Look how cute," She gushed.

"Let me see that," Dave said, pulling the picture from her fingers. "That's pretty scary."

"It's my unborn son, sir."

"How can you tell?" Dave asked, sitting next to Simon. The airman pointed at a spot on the image and Dave squinted at it. "I don't know, Wells. Hope you didn't paint the room blue because of this."

"How much longer are we going to let Jeff explore?" Buffy asked as Dave handed the sonogram picture back to Simon.

"Probably a while. Balinsky's all excited. He says they're ruins of an Ancient city."

"Ancient as in Ancient ancient?" Buffy asked.

Hurried footsteps grabbed their attention and they all stood to see Jeff running towards the group. "Take cover!" Just behind him Buffy could make out a metal object with tentacle-like things hanging below it hovering over the ground.

They all dashed for the cover provided by the short walls of the ruins. All but Jeff raised their guns and began firing at it, but their bullets bounced uselessly off of a shield. Energy blasts came shooting out of it as it returned fire.

Jeff peeked out and noticed how close it was to one of the standing walls. "Colonel!"

Dave immediately saw what he was meaning and fired a round from the M-203 grenade launcher attached to his M-16. It hit the base of the wall, causing it to collapse onto the machine. It broke apart in a shower of sparks.

Cautiously they stepped closer to it and Dave shot it a couple more times to be sure.

"What is it?" Simon asked.

"Is it me, or did it look like one of those probes from the original Star Wars movies?" Buffy asked before frowning and adding, "And did I just enter geekhood by uttering that statement?"


	26. Chapter TwentyFive

**Chapter Twenty-Five **

Jack held back his sigh of relief as he entered the control room, joining Sam and Daniel who were already there with General Hammond. Every time he was in a room with Senator Kinsey for more than a minute he found it increasingly difficult not to deck him. Add in the damn documentary crew and he'd nearly lost his temper with what would have been disastrous consequences. Thank all that was holy that Hammond called him in for the unauthorized wormhole activation.

His stomach clenched slightly in fear as he recognized Dave's face on the screen. It was obvious that the tall man was hunched over to be seen in the MALP's camera.

"We found some ruins. Balinsky believes they're from some Ancient outpost or something. Problem is, some sort of device showed up, took a couple shots at us, but we took it down." Dave's face nearly filled the screen. "We didn't see evidence of any activity to or on our way back from the ruins."

"Everyone safe?" Hammond asked.

"Not a scratch on us, but Balinsky wants to stay."

Jack's guts eased at the news. He gave Daniel a quick smile before leaning in to the mic. "You see anything worth staying for, Dave?"

"Hard to say."

Jeff's head suddenly appeared as he stepped in front of Dave. "We need to finish searching these ruins."

"How long?" Hammond asked.

"A day or two, maybe more…"

"It would be nice to send up a UAV to get an aerial overview," Daniel said, looking up at the General.

Hammond shared a long look with Jack before nodding his head. "Permission to stay granted. I'll send SG-3 as back up. Any sign of threat, you get out of there immediately, Colonel."

"Understand, sir," Dave replied, stepping back into view as Jeff celebrated the good news.

Sam turned to Hammond. "In the meantime, I can run some tests on the device to see what it was doing there."

"Send the device back, Colonel."

"Yes, sir. SG-13 out."

The gate disconnected as Sam and Daniel hurried out of the control room to get ready while Jack gave the General a small smile. "Sir, uh, it's not that I don't appreciate all your hel -"

"I knew Kinsey and Bregman were headed your way and I thought you might be looking for an excuse to get away," he said with a knowing look in his eye.

"I thought as much, sir, and I just wanted to express my deep and unyielding… love for you, sir."

"General," the public affairs liaison, Colonel Rondel, interrupted. "If you have a moment, Mr. Bregman would like a word."

Hammond looked as if he was fighting the urge to roll his eyes as he nodded and turned to go to his office.

Knowing his current two pains in the ass were either busy or on their way out, Jack strolled easily through the corridors to get back to his paperwork. As much as he hated being separated from Buffy, he was very thankful that she was safely off world and would be for the next day or so. Safe away from Kinsey's malicious stupidity and scheming, and from the documentary crew's prying eyes. Unfortunately, he was stuck here trying to avoid them and not doing the greatest of jobs at it. Maybe he'd take Buffy to Backwood's when she returned. He could do with the friendly atmosphere.

XXXXXXXX

"Have you and Marci picked out a name yet?" Buffy asked as she and Simon patrolled through the trees. Dave had remained at the ruins with Jeff to make sure their archaeologist didn't hurt himself.

"We've got a couple different ones in mind," he admitted.

"Share!"

"There's Christopher Daniel."

"That one's not bad."

"Shawn Paul."

Buffy crinkled her nose. "I'm not so sure on that one."

"Really? It's the one we're leaning toward the most. Shawn was my father's name and Paul is Marci's."

"I get it," Buffy said, bobbing her head.

Their radios crackled to life and they stopped to listen. "Colonel Dixon, this is General Hammond. We have reason to believe the Goa'uld probe sent out a subspace transmission prior to your disabling of it. I'm ordering you to return to Stargate Command immediately."

Dave's voice came through. "Roger that, sir. Estimated arrival time is fifteen minutes. Dixon out."

"That can't be good," Simon said with a frown.

"Probably just a precaution," Buffy said.

"Wells, Summers," Dave's voice came through their radios again.

"Wells, here."

"Bring it home. We're booking out," he ordered.

"Roger that. Wells out."

"I bet Jeff is crushed about leaving so early," Buffy said as they started towards the gate.

Without warning, the sound of a staff weapon being fired came from behind them. Buffy watched in horror as Simon fell forward, smoke rising from his back. Her body reacted without thought and in one smooth motion, she twisted her body as she dropped to one knee. Bullets fired from her P-90 in the direction of the blast.

One hand held the gun, the other reached up to her radio. "Dave! We're taking fire! Simon has been hit!"

"Can he be moved?" Dave's voice crackled.

She let off another round of shots before giving Simon a quick look. "I could, but he wouldn't make it."

"Hold there," he ordered.

"Not going anywhere," she muttered as she protected her fallen friend. She had already failed him by not sensing the approaching Jaffa; like hell would she let anything else happen to him. She refused to let his child grow up without a father.

In the background she could hear Dave calling for assistance. "Summers! I'm sending half of SG-3 as back up. I've got company myself. Balinsky is going through the gate for help."

"I hear you," she said tersely into the radio. "But probably unnecessary. I just shot the last one here."

"Doesn't mean there aren't others."

"Point. Watch yourself."

XXXXXXXX

Jack's chest was tight as he ran through the halls of the SGC towards the briefing room. All he had heard was that something had gone wrong with SG-13's return from the planet. His mind kept creating horrible images of what had happened to Buffy.

Dirty and disheveled, Dr. Balinsky sat on the table giving his report to General Hammond as Jack rushed in. "Wells is hurt badly and can't be moved."

"How many Jaffa?" Jack asked, relieved that it wasn't Buffy who was injured.

"I, I don't know," Jeff started.

"Five, ten, one hundred, what?" Jack interrupted, his impatience bleeding into the tone of his voice.

"Uh, Colonel Dixon counted six. They were able to fend them off. They're holding a position protecting Simon."

"How did the Jaffa get through the gate?" Hammond asked.

Jeff shook his head. "No, no. They had to come by ship. SG-3 was covering the gate."

Jack frowned slightly at the news. "The gate is clear?"

"Half of SG-3 was still there when I left."

Jack looked pleadingly at Hammond, hoping his CO could read his thoughts. "General?"

He nodded. "Take SGs 5 and 7, and Dr. Fraiser."

Jack was already moving out the door as he said, "Thank you, sir."

"Colonel!" Hammond called after him

He popped his head back in the door. "Yes, sir, I know. It sounds like an ambush to me, too, but there's nothing else we can do, right?"

"Right. Go."

Before he could disappear, Jeff spoke up again, "Colonel." He slid off the table and turned to look at the leader of SG-1. "Bring them all back safe."

"Yeah, sure, you betcha," he assured him.

As Jack made his way down to the locker room he could hear the announcement to the SG teams ordering them to prep. Adrenaline started pumping through his veins as he changed out of his BDUs and into his off-world gear. He was buttoning his shirt as Daniel entered the room.

The younger man opened his locker that was next to Jack's and spoke quietly so that the other men in the room couldn't hear. "Are you sure this is such a good idea, Jack?"

"What do you mean?" He replied just as softly, bending over to tie his boots.

"They make the fraternization regulations for a reason. Is it such a wise decision that one of the teams going out to rescue Buffy is ours?"

"It's not just Buffy, it's her whole team," Jack pointed out. "Wells is down."

"I know that," Daniel said patiently. "But are you going to be able to separate your feelings and focus on the fight at hand rather than just Buffy?"

Jack straightened and slammed his locker door shut. "You think I can't do my job?" He asked in a fierce whisper.

"No! No, it's not that. It's just that I know exactly how much you care about her, and given what you just told me in my office, I think that changes things. I just want to make sure that your head in going to be clear out there."

"My head is going to be just fine," Jack said between clinched teeth. He turned from his friend and stormed out the door.

XXXXXXXXX

Dave cussed as more Jaffa appeared through the trees. Whoever Hammond sent as backup was going to be walking into this with bad intel. "Not good," he muttered, ducking back behind the huge rock he was using as cover to change clips. He was down to his last one and it looked as if the Jaffa were going to keep coming. Him and his big mouth citing this as relaxation. Really, he needed to learn to keep his trap shut.

Jack O'Neill's voice came through to radio on his vest. "SG-1, 5, and 7 through the gate. Fraiser is heading to Wells." More chatter filtered through giving out locations as Dave let off another round, killing a Jaffa.

A Goa'uld glider screamed overhead, letting off a few shots. "Damn it!" Dave yelled, giving a quick look at the men around him. Thankfully they were all still with him.

Another ship flew by and he got a sinking feeling in his gut. The chances of the ships just happening to show up with the other teams' arrival were too great for his liking. Things were quickly going from bad to worse.

Movement at his left had him turning to find he had company. "Hi, Jack. Thanks for comin'."

"I was told you said there were six Jaffa. Where'd you learn how to count?" Jack asked as Dave shot down two more Jaffa. To their right, Teal'c got another with his staff weapon.

Dave ducked down as an Alkesh flew by, letting loose several rounds that caused the ground to shake as the plasma hit. He turned so his back was against the rock. "Ships didn't start coming down 'til you radioed through the 'gate. Something tells me they're throwing this party in your honor. Got those clips?"

Jack handed over several of the extra clips he brought before replacing the one in his P-90.

"Colonel O'Neill, our position is being compromised. We're not going to be able to hold the gate for long."

He clicked on the radio. "It doesn't matter, we're not gonna be able to hold this position for long." Releasing the button, he raised his P-90 and began returning fire.

Fraiser's voice filtered through the noise of the battle. "Colonel, I need more time to stabilize this patient. He can't be moved yet."

From their left, Sam yelled, "Sir, we've got to fall back."

Dave rested his modified M-16 on the rock and began shooting in short bursts. The roar of gunfire and staff blasts rang loud in his ears as he concentrated on staying alive to get home to Sharon and his kids.

Sam's horrified shout of, "Sir!" had him turning to see Jack falling hard onto the ground. Scratch the things being worse, they had just gone to hell. Buffy was going to kill him.

He raced to cover Sam as she went to check on Jack. From her grave expression it couldn't be good. "Can he be moved?" He shouted over the noise.

"I think so. There's no blood, but he's unconscious," she said, summarizing his condition.

"Get him to the gate!" He ordered. "Teal'c! Help Carter!"

Dave gave a quick assessment of the battle around them. Whether Fraiser was ready or not, they were going to have to start making a slow retreat.

XXXXXXX

Buffy choked back a sob as she pressed the bandage against Simon's back and tried to keep a static pressure on the wound. Concern about the blood that also seemed to be coming out from under him only made the ache in her chest worse. The battle raged on around her, but she remained focused on the wounded man before her as if her will, and her will alone, could keep him in the world of the living.

This was all her fault anyway. She had allowed her guard to fall and let these men in as part of her family. Instead of keeping a closer eye on what her senses were telling her, she was asking about baby names. She should have stuck with keeping her walls up. If she had, she wouldn't have been distracted at this crucial time and Simon wouldn't be fighting to live.

Her radio crackled to life announcing the arrival of back up and Dr. Fraiser. She forced her fear of SG-1 getting injured as well back down. The last she needed was another distraction. She bent closer to Simon. "Hang on. Fraiser's on her way. You're going to be fine."

Simon let out a grunt of pain. "I don't think I'm going to make it. Tell Marci…"

"Stop it!" She cried, tears streaking down her dirty face. "You're _going_ to see her again. You are _going_ to meet your son, even if I have to die to make it happen."

"Don't you dare," he growled out.

"Then stop saying you're going to die," she ordered.

"Buffy!"

She looked up to see Daniel and Janet rushing over to them. Relief flooded through her. "He's got blood coming out from underneath him as well."

Janet flashed her a reassuring grin. "I'll take care of him."

"Are you okay?" Daniel asked, replacing her hands on the bandage with his own.

"I'm fine," she said, wiping Simon's blood onto her pants before picking up her P-90. "I'm going to cover you from the ridge," she said, feeling the need to be active. If she stayed with Janet and Daniel she'd only get in the way as they worked.

He nodded, seeing the steely determination in her eyes. The same look he'd seen in Jack's a hundred times before. He knew she'd protect them as they helped Simon.

From the ridge, she had a better view of the battle around her. In the distance she could see ships firing at people on the ground. How things had gotten this bad this fast, she had no idea.

As swiftly as she could, she picked off every Jaffa she could see. Buffy could hear Simon's cries of pain as Janet worked to stop the bleeding even over the firefight. Her senses were stretched to the max as she tried to eliminate every threat.

The shooting around her ceased and for a moment she held her breath. Her senses gave her an all clear and she allowed herself a moment to reload before returning to Simon.

She was halfway down the ridge when a shot came out of the bushes from the far side of the trees and struck Fraiser squarely in the chest. Time seemed to slow as she raised her P-90 and fired in the direction of the shot. There was a flash of silver as the Jaffa fell back.

Time resumed its normal speed and she ran towards her friends, but even then she knew it was too late. Janet lay staring, unseeing at the sky as Daniel screamed into the radio for a medic and Dave ordered a retreat to the gate.

Buffy fell to her knees. Another life lost because she wasn't good enough. The doctor had never been anything but friendly to her and had worked hard to keep her secret. Now she was gone and it was her fault.

All her fault.


	27. Chapter TwentySix

**Chapter Twenty-Six **

Dave frowned as he watched Buffy approach the gate with the medic team. While she still moved with more grace than most people, her actions were stilted, as if she was running on automatic. He knew it wouldn't be apparent to most, but after training and working with her for the past five months, he could clearly see the difference.

She waited until it was only the two of them left before crossing the event horizon with him. Her silence upon their arrival on Earth was another clue that there was something seriously wrong. Handing off her P-90 her movements were almost sluggish and her steps seemed to drag as they walked to the infirmary.

He knew that the staff there was going to be hard pressed to deal with the injuries the teams had sustained and do the regular post-mission check, but the moment things had begun to calm, he grabbed a nurse to check on Buffy. He paced nervously as she checked her over, growing more concerned that the blonde didn't let out one word of protest during the examination. Her eyes were glazed and fixed on the wall in front of her, never acknowledging his movements.

After what felt like forever, the nurse guided him to a spot a short distance away and spoke to him in a hushed voice. "Physically she's fine, but she's showing signs of an emotional shock. I suspect the firefight was too much for her."

The words sounded wrong to Dave. He knew it couldn't have been the firefight itself that had caused this. More than likely, it was the combination of Simon and Jack's injuries and Dr. Fraiser's death. Despite how well Buffy had been doing, he knew that she was still haunted by her sister's death.

"What can we do for her?" He asked.

"She's just going to need time," the nurse said gently. "It wouldn't hurt letting her take a shower and get some rest. She needs time to process everything that happened."

He nodded as Jeff walked into the infirmary. "How's Simon?" The archaeologist asked, joining them. The nurse gave him a polite smile before moving on to another patient.

"In surgery, but we have other problems," Dave said, gesturing to where Buffy sat on the edge of a bed, motionless since the nurse had stepped away.

"What's wrong?" Jeff whispered.

"Not sure yet, but I have my suspicions. We need to – "Dave began, but was interrupted by General Hammond.

"Colonel Dixon, I need to speak with you."

"I'll be right there, sir," he said, before turning back to Jeff. "Take her back to her room. She understands everything that's being said. Have her take a shower and then get some rest. Under no circumstances are you to let her leave that room, do you understand?"

Balinsky nodded his head, a perplexed expression on his face, but he walked over to Buffy. While she responded to his gentle suggestion, she didn't speak or look at him.

Dave wearily ran a hand over his face before leaving to meet with Hammond.

XXXXXXXX

Buffy awoke to the sound of a pen scratching over paper. Her thoughts flew in a jumbled mess as she tried to orient herself to her surroundings. She began to recognize the dimly lit room as the one she used when staying on base, which meant the scratching sound was caused by Jack working on his unending paperwork.

A frown marred her features as she recognized Dave's larger form sitting at the table rather than Jack's slimmer body. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and the rustling of the sheets cause Dave to look up from his work.

"How are you feeling?" He softly asked.

"Okay, I guess. Where's Jack?"

Dave sighed and stood. He picked up the chair he was sitting in to bring it next to her bed. Sitting down, he carefully asked, "What do you remember about yesterday?"

Her forehead crinkled as she tried to organize her hazy memories. "You ordered us back to the gate and Simon got shot from behind."

"And then?" He prompted.

"I stayed there until Daniel and Dr. Fraiser showed up and they took over. I covered them from the ridge."

"Good. Anything else?"

Tears filled her eyes as images assaulted her. "I… I… Janet got shot," she said, her voice breaking. "She's dead, isn't she?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Did Daniel get hurt, too? Is that why Jack's not here? Is he sitting with him?"

"What else do you remember?" Dave prompted instead.

"I don't really remember anything else," she said with a shake of her head, tears running down her cheeks. "It's all kind of blurry after Janet. What happened? Is Simon okay? Where's Jack?"

"Wells just got out of surgery ten minutes ago. He's going to be fine."

"And where's Jack?" She asked again, her small hand fisting the comforter.

Dave hated to be the one to break the news to her. He could have sworn that she heard him calling for a medic for Jack over the radio, but apparently she had been too wrapped up in what was going on in her section of the battle.

"He got hit with a staff blast."

She gasped in horror as one hand flew up to cover her mouth. "Oh god, oh god, oh god," she chanted, her eyes wide and fearful.

"He's fine," he assured her. "It hit squarely on one of the new vest inserts. He's just banged up a bit and little singed."

"Can I go see him?" She whispered, her breath coming in uneven spurts.

"Yeah. Why don't you get dressed and wash your face," he said gently. "I'll be waiting right outside the door to take you to him."

Her eyes drifted shut as she listened to the scraping noise as Dave returned the chair to it proper place before quietly leaving the room. It took her several minutes to be sure that her shaking legs would hold her before standing and heading to the bathroom. She refused to look in the mirror as she rinsed her face off with cold water. She already intimately familiar with the haunted look that would be staring back at her and she had no desire to see it.

Carefully, she toweled her face dry and pulled her hair back into a low ponytail. Her mind was still numb as she put on random clothing from the dresser drawers. It was nothing more than a t-shirt and a pair of cargo pants. She could have cared less if they matched or not.

Dave gave her a reassuring look when she opened the door before leading her down the hall.

"Can I see Simon, too?" She asked.

"In a little bit. They aren't allowing visitors yet. I'll let you know the moment we're allowed in."

When they arrived at Jack's room, she hesitated, suddenly unsure. She knew that Dave said he was fine, but that didn't mean that _things_ were fine. That mission had gone so horribly wrong and she was well aware that a good deal of it was her fault. She hadn't sensed the Jaffa before it had shot Simon, which meant everybody who had died or got injured coming to save them was all her fault because of her incompetence.

"Take all the time you need," Dave said. "I'll be right here."

The tiny blonde didn't say anything, but opened the door scared of what lay beyond it. Scared that Jack would blame her for what had happened. That somehow he would know it was all her fault. That it would be over between them.

Jack sat propped up with several pillows on the bed working a crossword puzzle book. He was shirtless and she could see the white bandage wrapped around his midsection, stark against his tanned skin. Her heart leapt in her throat as she realized how close she had been to losing him. If it hadn't been for those new inserts, he would have been lost to her and she wouldn't have known until long after the fact. Her mind screamed at her to run away, but her feet refused to move.

"Hey, you," he said, an honest smile tugging at his lips. He tossed the book and pen to the nightstand and opened his arms.

Her sudden paralysis vanished as if it had never been and she ran to him, burying her face into his shoulder, careful not to squeeze him too tightly. He smelled of hospital and antiseptic, but underneath it all she could still detect his spicy scent.

"How are you doing?" He asked, resting his cheek against her head. Dave had given him a quick report the night before and he hated that he couldn't go to her.

"I'm so sorry," she sobbed.

"For what?"

"It's all my fault. If I had –"

"Hey," Jack interrupted. "He snuck up on you, shot Wells in the back. You couldn't have known."

"I should have sensed him," she insisted, pulling back and sitting on the edge of the bed.

His hand reached up to cup her face. The calloused pad of his thumb rubbed at the tears on her cheek. "I know you put a lot of faith in that spidey sense of yours, but that doesn't mean it's always perfect. You're human, Buffy."

"And I missed the one that got Janet, too," she said softly, refusing to look him in the eye.

"That was not your fault either. I've talked to Daniel. I know that Jaffa was on the other side of the clearing, there's no way you knew he was there. And you weren't the only one out there to protect them. They missed him, too. The blame does not rest on your shoulders, you hear me?"

Instead of responding, she just fell back into his arms.

XXXXXXXX

Half an hour later, Buffy emerged from Jack's recovery room, her eyes dry but red rimmed. Dave reached out to give her shoulder a squeeze before walking with her to see Simon. He hadn't gone to see him yet, either. Jeff had only popped his head in minutes before Buffy had awoken to let him know he was going to make it.

A nurse was just leaving the recovery room when they arrived. Dave gestured for Buffy to go in without him as he stayed behind to speak with the nurse.

Simon was pale against the white sheets as different wires and tubes connected him to the various pieces of equipment keeping track of his vitals. While this wasn't Buffy's first time in a room like this, it never failed to intimidate her, and worry her.

With slow, simple movements, she carried one of the hard plastic chairs to the side of the bed with least amount of equipment. Carefully, she grasped one of Simon's hands with her own as she sat down.

"See, I told you. You made it," she said with a small smile. "You'll get to go home to Marci soon and that little boy is going to know his daddy."

A shaky hand reached out to brush the hair off of his forehead. She could still remember how warm his blood was on her hands as it seeped through the bandages as she had done her best to keep him alive, trying to correct her mistake.

"If only this had happened to me, this wouldn't be a problem. We know I would have been able to survive this. These sort of things aren't supposed to happen to you. Now it's too late for Janet," she said, sniffling slightly and trying to force herself not to cry.

"Did you know that Jack got hurt, too? I didn't know until I woke up a little while ago. Everything happened so fast, Simon, and I'm sorry that I failed you. I failed Janet, and I failed everyone else out there. I didn't do my job, now them and you are paying the price for it."

She fell silent and listened to the steady beeping of the machines assuring her that he was alive. A short time later, Dave walked in and she gave him a watery smile as he pulled up a chair on the other side of the bed.

"Where's Jeff?" She asked.

"Sent him home. He was up watching you until I relieved him and then he was here waiting for news on Wells."

"Shouldn't you be home with Sharon and the kids?" She asked.

"I've already talked to her. She understands that I'm needed here," Dave explained.

"But – "

"She understands, Buffy. And I'll get some rest when he wakes up."

Buffy nodded, knowing she'd do the same in his position. Together they started their silent vigil.

Sometime later, Daniel walked into the hushed room. "I hate to do this, but General Hammond wants to speak with both of you in his office now."

"Did he say what for?" Dave asked, already getting to his feet.

"No, I have a feeling it has something to do about the NID being here."

"Damn it," Dave muttered before looking over to Buffy. "It's not going to be good, Summers. Let's get moving."

She nodded and stood. She placed a soft kiss on Simon's forehead before whispering in his ear. "Don't worry. We'll be right back. We're not going to leave you."

"I'll stay with him," Daniel offered.

"Thank you," she said, before leaving the room with Dave.

XXXXXXXX

Buffy suffered from a slight case of déjà vu as she and Dave sat across from General Hammond. Even though it had only been a few days since she and Jack had received word about the documentary crew in this manner, it had felt like years with everything that had happened since then. Again, General Hammond gave her an apologetic look before speaking.

"As a result of the command decisions during your last mission, those involved are facing a review from the NID. They will be interviewed by their representative Mr. Richard Woolsey."

She looked over at Dave. "Does this include you?"

"Unfortunately, yes," he replied.

"Because you were not directly involved in any of the command decisions you are technically not part of the group to be interviewed," Hammond looked at Buffy as he continued. "However, I do not trust the NID or Woolsey and they may try to force the issue. Because of this, I want you to remain off base for the duration of the inquiry, effective immediately after you finish your mission report."

Buffy sighed as she nodded her head. She had no desire to be questioned by the NID. Jack had told her plenty of horror stories about the organization and she wanted to remain as far away from them as possible.

"Colonel Dixon is to accompany you while you complete your report. He is then to escort you off base and to your home. You are to speak to no one else so that Woolsey cannot learn of your departure and try to prevent it."

"But Simon and Jack – " she began.

"Dixon can inform Airman Wells when he awakes. I, myself, am going to apprise Colonel O'Neill of the situation when we finish here. They will understand," he said, gently but firmly.

Buffy could tell by his eyes that he wasn't going to budge on this. She understood that he was concerned not only for her and the other slayers, but the people under his command as well. It was going to be hard leaving without saying goodbye, even if it was only for a few days. She had wanted to remain by Simon's side until he had awakened. She needed to know if he would ever forgive her for screwing up.

"I realize how hard this is for you, Buffy," George said softly. "But I'm afraid that this is the best I can do for all concerned under the circumstances."

"I understand," she said wearily as she stood.

XXXXXXXXX

They didn't speak the entire way home although Dave opened his mouth several times only to think better of it and close it again. For her part, she just leaned her head against the cool glass of the passenger window and stared blankly at the scenery passing by.

As if what had happened on the planet wasn't bad enough, now they were being forced to examine their actions. She knew they would discover that she was to blame and lose whatever trust she had earned from both her team and Jack's, not to mention the General.

It wasn't fair. She was no sooner finally getting her life back together to have it all fall apart again. She barely noticed when Dave pulled into the drive and shifted the vehicle into park. The low rumble of the Suburban's engine idling filled her ears.

"If you want, I can take you to my house," he offered. "Sharon would love to have you stay."

"When do you get to go home?" She asked, turning to look at him.

"When Wells wakes up and after my interview. Jack's not going to be allowed to come home for at least a few days."

"I know," she said, resting her head back against the glass, not really wanting to think about it.

"You really shouldn't be alone. Shar -"

"Thank you, but no. I actually just want to be alone. Sharon is great and so are the kids, but I think it would be too much."

Dave chuckled. "They can be a handful."

"You should stop and see them on your way back to the mountain," she said, undoing her seat belt and reaching for the silver door handle.

"Already planned on it," he assured her.

"Good," she said, taking in a deep breath and letting it out. "Let me know when I can come back to the base," she said, giving the door a small push to open it and climbed her way out of the large vehicle.

"I'll stop by and check on you tomorrow and everyday until Jack is home."

"Thanks," she said, and then shut the door. She made her way up the walk in a daze. Her movements were lethargic as she slid her house key into the lock and twisted, feeling the pressure of the tumblers inside. She opened the door and turned to give Dave a small wave. Seeing she was safe inside, he returned the wave before backing the Suburban out of the driveway.

XXXXXXXXXX

Buffy lay in the dark staring up at the ceiling over her and Jack's bed. Sleep had been eluding her weary body for over three hours. Her mind wouldn't stop obsessing over the mission, the inquiry, and what the future might hold.

She had become too complacent in her life here. Had allowed herself to be comfortable while off world with her team. They had slipped behind her defenses and now she cared too much about them. Her slayer's edge had been dulled. Instead of keeping an eye out for the enemy, she was more interested in the naming of Simon's unborn son.

Maybe this was the true reason why the slayer traditionally worked alone. While the connection to the world gave her something to fight for, they were also a liability. They distracted her from her duty and her sloppiness had serious consequences.

If that was true then she could no longer be an effective member of the team, which also meant failure. Things were already bad at the SGC because of her screw up and with the current president having less than a month left in office he wouldn't be able to help her – not that she wanted him to. She only wanted to stay if she was still a valuable member, but she was beginning to believe that wasn't going to be the case.

Despite what Jack had told her during her visit that day, she knew she should be held accountable for what happened out in the field and the inquiry. It was only a matter of time before he looked closely at the facts and realized that she was right. For now, he was too close to her to see everything clearly.

She rolled over to her side to look out the window. The moon lit the backyard and it seemed to call to her. When had been the last time she patrolled? It had been long before she moved to Colorado Springs.

Even though Willow and the others had long since accepted that she was happy here, perhaps their first assessment was correct. Maybe she was abandoning her calling by working here. This whole mission could have been a sadistic sign from the Powers to get her back on the straight and narrow. To return to the tried and true method of being a slayer – patrolling the streets for vampires and demons. Alone.

It was a possibility.

A return to what she obviously did best. She could make her break from the SGC and Jack on her own terms. Go back to Cleveland to reorient herself and then pick out a remote hotspot to use her slayer abilities.

Buffy threw back the sheets and went to make a phone call. Ignoring the small voice in the back of her head telling her that she was actually just running from Jack and the possibility of losing another person she loved.


	28. ChapterTwentySeven

**Chapter Twenty-Seven **

Buffy should have known that it was too good to be true. She had managed to avoid Faith and John since she had arrived in Cleveland a week ago. The last thing she wanted to do was explain what had gone wrong and why she was back. It wasn't like she could fully explain things to Faith anyway. The rest of the Scoobies had been gone on various assignments since before she had returned, but she didn't want to see the disappointment in John's face anymore than in Jack's.

Early that morning she had headed out to the corner of the property that had been designated, by an unspoken rule, as the seclusion area. Any of the students or staff could go there when they needed personal time. After being constantly surrounded by people whether in class, the cafeteria, patrolling, or even in their dorms, some found the need to have some alone time. When they needed it, they would retreat to the wooded area and everyone would leave them alone.

However, Faith and John seemed to believe that her time was up. It was obvious that John hadn't lost his covert ops skills since she didn't hear them approach until it was too late and they had her cornered.

"I'm really not in the mood," she said, turning away from them and leaning against a tree.

"Too bad, B. You came back a week ago with no explanation, saying it was for good and you expect us _not_ to wonder about what happened?"

"It's not like I could talk about it, you don't have the clearance to know."

John cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah, about that. She knows about the SGC."

Buffy whirled around to look at him. "Boy this mini-you has loose lips. She's the second person you've told. Did you tell everyone?"

He shook his head. "Just Faith. It was only in case something went wrong and you needed her out there." At her stricken look he frowned. "They didn't shut down the program did they?"

"No, still functioning normally as far as I'm aware of," she replied, turning back around and resuming her position next to the tree. "Although there might be some changes in the command structure if Woolsey has anything to do with it."

"Woolsey?"

"Some guy from the NID. When I left he was conducting an inquiry on the command decisions of my last mission."

John cursed and took a few steps in the opposite direction muttering under his breath about the meddling tactics of the NID.

"What was wrong with the decisions?" Faith asked.

"People got hurt, killed because of my screw-up."

"They placed you in charge of a team?" Faith prompted.

"No, and it's a good thing they didn't," she said, still refusing to turn around and look at them. "But I'm the one who screwed up and they had to come rescue us and are now covering for me."

"For cryin' out loud, how could you screw up so badly that they'd have to cover it?" John asked in exasperation throwing his arms up in the air.

Buffy shook her head and pressed her lips tight together.

"You didn't go evil, did ya?" Faith asked.

"No, I didn't go evil," Buffy said with a roll of her eyes. "I just let my guard down and we got attacked. Simon was injured so badly they had to send a rescue team back."

"Buffy, that's not a screw up," John said.

She quickly spun around to look at him. "Isn't it? I'm able to sense the Jaffa, John. I should have known he was there in the bushes before he shot Simon. I should have taken care of it, just like how I had saved Jeff. I was kicked out of my own home for less by my own family; so don't tell me I'm wrong about this. I screwed up and now Janet is dead because of me!"

John's face lost all color. "Janet's dead?"

"Damn it," Buffy said, walking away. "That's not how I wanted to tell you."

"You've been here for a whole week and you didn't tell me that she was dead?" John practically screamed at her. "Jesus, Buffy. Didn't you think I had a right to know?"

"Yeah, well I had other things on my mind like Jack nearly -," she broke off, her pain easy to read on her features before she turned away from them.

John's shoulders sagged. "_He_ was injured, too?"

"Along with a couple of others," she said, dropping her gaze to the ground, tears falling down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," he said, walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her.

While John knew that they were together, they had never spoken about it. The topic was too awkward for them. He had been cloned directly from Jack – feelings for Buffy included. It was obvious that Buffy had chosen the original and not the copy, but at least she hadn't deserted him. It certainly didn't stop his heart from breaking for her. He knew how hard it was to see someone you cared about lying in a hospital bed and then blaming yourself for it.

After the worst of her crying had passed, she giggled faintly. "Did you grow a couple of inches?"

"A few. I hit a growth spurt."

"It shows," she said weakly, stepping out of his embrace.

"B, if Jack is injured, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I couldn't stay there any longer, Faith. I screwed up. I can't stay there and watch him walk through the gate and not know if he'll make it back or not. I can't do it again," Buffy said, her voice cracking.

"And your grand plan was to come back here to Cleveland to his mini-me? No offense Johnny."

"None taken," John said, used to Faith's bluntness now.

"I'm not staying here, either," Buffy corrected her. "I'm here for a few weeks to cope and then I'm gone."

"To where?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. A demon hotspot somewhere. I'm a slayer. I should be doing my job, not going off world. I'm needed here."

"No, you're not," Faith said with a shake of her head. "You deserve more than this. You deserve to be happy. Hell, you fucking deserve Jack if he feels for you even half of what Johnny here does. Take a chance. Be something more than the slayer."

"No," Buffy said stubbornly. "I can't deal with losing someone else I love, again."

XXXXXXXX

As he had done every evening for the past week since Jack had been released from the infirmary, Daniel entered his friend's home. Not surprisingly, the still bruised man was sitting on his sofa staring into the empty fireplace.

Daniel went into the kitchen and grabbed two beers out of the fridge before sitting next to Jack. "Still no word?" He asked, handing him one of the bottles.

"Nope."

"Wonder where she went," Daniel mused. He grasped the cap of his beer and with a quick twist it came off in his hand.

"Cleveland," Jack said quietly, fiddling with his unopened beer.

The bottle paused on its way to Daniel's lips and he turned to look at Jack. "You sure?"

"Only place she would have gone," Jack said with a shrug.

"Have you tried calling her?"

"No use," Jack said, finally twisting the cap off and taking a long pull from the bottle. "She made her choice."

"So you told her, then," Daniel surmised. He knew that Jack had been planning on telling her that he loved her.

"I didn't get a chance to. I was planning a romantic evening to tell her."

"Then what was she choosing?" Daniel asked in confusion, his brow furrowing slightly.

"Obviously to not be here," Jack said sharply. "She left without a word. Not to me, not to Dave, hell, she didn't even tell Hammond."

"The General did tell her to stay off base for a few days. Maybe she decided to spend the time in Cleveland."

"She's been gone for a week and a half, Daniel. She would have at least called by now."

Daniel couldn't refute the argument so he turned back to his beer. This had been the most Jack had said since they had learned of Buffy's disappearance after Dave had dropped her off at the house. All that was left was a note from her saying she was sorry and that she couldn't stay.

She wasn't answering her cell phone and had turned it completely off so they couldn't track it. Wherever she was and whatever she was doing, it was quite obvious that she didn't want to be found.

He wished there was something more he could do, but short of actually finding her and bringing her back, he had to settle for just being there for Jack.

"What about John?" Daniel suggested.

"John who?"

"Your clone. Didn't Buffy get him a job in Cleveland with the Watcher's Council?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Have you tried calling him? Maybe he's got some answers." Daniel was hoping that Jack would at least try to take an active approach to the problem.

"And what if she told him not to say anything? Just because he's cloned from me doesn't mean he'll fess up. He's as loyal to her as I am."

"Okay, point taken. Do you want me to call?"

Jack gave him an irritated look. "This isn't junior high, Daniel. I don't need you to be my go-between. Obviously she's upset with me about something and she's not interested in giving me a chance to make up for it. Just means it's over," he concluded softly before taking another long drink.

XXXXXXXX

Dave entered Simon's room in the infirmary to find Jeff already there. "Congratulations, Wells. I hear you get out of here tomorrow."

The young airman smiled up at him, the color having long since returned to his cheeks. "Only to be transferred to the local hospital, but at least Marci will be able to visit me."

"Small favors," Dave agreed. "When is she due to pop that son of yours out?"

"Any day now, sir. I can't wait."

Dave gave him a knowing smile and nodded.

Simon's eyes grew haunted as he asked, "Any word on Buffy?" He had been disappointed by her absence when he had woken after surgery, but had understood why Hammond sent her home. It was her subsequent absence that hurt. He had thought they were friends and didn't understand why she had left town without speaking to them.

"No."

"Has General Hammond written her up?" Jeff asked quietly from his chair.

"Not yet. Since we're on stand down because of the last mission she technically not AWOL."

"She's not military," Jeff pointed out.

"True, but she's working for a top secret military project."

"Are we sure she wasn't abducted?"

"She packed her bags, Balinsky. It was intentional and on her accord, at least, Jack said so. But if she thinks it will be easy when she comes back she's got another thing comin'. She broke our trust," Dave said with a sigh as he wearily rubbed his eyes. The past few weeks had been rough for everyone.

"Do you think she's coming back?" Simon asked.

"Damn well better. I don't want to find two replacements for the team."

"Two?" Jeff asked in surprise. "Why two?"

"Wells will never be allowed back in the field after an injury that severe. Even if they did allow it, it's gonna take him at least a year to regain full control of his muscles again. I'd have to find a replacement no matter what."

Jeff slumped in his chair, astounded by the news. It had never occurred to him that Simon was going to have to permanently leave the team.

XXXXXXXX

Buffy let out a grunt as the demon's fist hit her squarely on the chin. Stars exploded behind her eyes for a moment from the pain. She blinked and was barely able to block the follow-up punch.

This was her fifth fight of the night. The first four with vamps, and none of them were clueless fledglings. Her energy reserves were starting to tap out, but she couldn't just let this thing walk away so it could harm others. It was her duty as the slayer to remove the threat to the world's populace and she was going to do it. On her own.

Which was how she had been doing everything for the past three weeks since she had talked to Faith and John. She had been serious when she said she was returning to her slayer duties. The tiny blonde refused to allow anyone to patrol with her. Her waking hours had been spent training and researching. She firmly believed that the Powers had sent her a sign letting her know where she was supposed to be and she wasn't going to let anyone else get hurt because of her.

Her limbs ached as she forced them to block the demon's punches and kicks. She needed to find a way through its defenses soon if she wanted to make it out of this one alive.

But perhaps this was it. Maybe it was this nasty's one good day.

As the thought crossed her mind, Buffy pulled an extra boost of energy from somewhere. She wasn't ready to die and like hell was she going to let some random demon take her out. She sent it a roundhouse kick that sent it stumbling back several feet.

It snarled at her, baring sharp teeth, and charged forward. Only instead of the expected punch, it rammed right into her midsection. The momentum carried them into a large tombstone that broke beneath them.

The air flew out of Buffy's lungs with a painful whoosh. As she fought to regain the ability to breathe, the right side of her chest protested loudly. Experience told her that she had just cracked or broken a couple of ribs.

"That wasn't playing nice," she said, her lungs fighting for every breath. "Using your body as a battering ram isn't allowed. Don't you know that?" She asked, shoving it off of her and getting shakily to her feet. "This isn't that fake wrestling they show on TV," she informed it, slamming her fist into its face and knocking it to the ground.

Its red eyes glittered up at her before it swiped at her, the fingers spread wide. She jerked back out of the way, but it wasn't enough. A painful fire erupted across her stomach as the demon's claws cut through her skin. Luckily she had moved enough that it hadn't cut through her abdominal wall and her insides were still, thankfully, inside.

She staggered back as the demon stood. Her body began to freeze up from the pain and the demon smiled triumphantly. Its good day had arrived on what was going to be her last.

Its fist slammed home onto her face like a freight train. Just as her world turned black, her last thought was of Jack.


	29. Chapter TwentyEight

**A/N: **So do you remember when I started posting again that I said if I finished the story I'd change the update schedule? I've completed the fic, it's been beta'd. Updates will now be every Sunday until the story is finished. Enjoy!

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

Jack sat staring out across the vast plains before him with a bored expression on his face. Behind him a huge temple loomed, rising from the featureless landscape. He could hear Daniel and Carter moving about as they inspected the ruins for signs of the Ancient device. As usual, he couldn't hear Teal'c. For a big guy, he didn't make a lot of noise.

He could only hope that they'd find it quickly so they would have time to figure out how to bring it back with them. The fact that the last SG team visiting this planet had found one of those roving Goa'uld probes did not bode well for them.

Realizing that he hadn't bugged Daniel for nearly ten minutes, he spoke up. "You know, we've searched this place up and down."

"I know," Daniel answered distractedly, his eyes never leaving the inscription on the wall.

The colonel looked at his watched. "We could have Goa'uld on our collective asses any minute now."

"I know," Daniel repeated.

Jack could practically hear the eye roll.

"According to the text on this column, it's inside."

"Inside, you say," Jack said slowly, coming to his feet. As far as he could tell there were no doors or even windows to the temple. He headed over to Daniel. "Well, let me tell you, my friend. There _is_ no inside, just a whole lotta outside."

"I know," Daniel said, beginning to sound like a broken record.

Sam held out one of her gadgets and pointed it at the wall opposite of Daniel. "I'm getting some strange readings from here." The wall itself was smooth and had no markings on it.

"If I'm right," Daniel murmured to himself. He looked at something in his notebook and then pressed several spots on the column.

The wall Sam was inspecting suddenly warped and the Repository seemed to grow out of it. They all jumped back, well out of its reach.

"Look out," Jack said with a grimace. He clicked on his radio. "Reynolds, come in."

It crackled for a moment before the Major's voice came through. "Go ahead."

"Yeah, we've got something here. Stand by."

"All clear for the moment," Reynolds said before signing off.

Sam stood off to the side and held her gadget out again. "We just have to figure out how to get this thing out of the wall," she mused out loud while trying to make sense of the readings.

Daniel took a couple of steps towards it and it opened up, a blue light emanating from within. Sam's hand shot out to grab his arm and she pulled him out of its path to stand next to her. "Careful," she cautioned.

"Alright, one more time. Why are we doing this?" Jack asked everyone, earning him looks that ranged from exasperation to mild amusement. He knew this whole idea was bad from the start but also necessary. It was just that these things made him a little nervous.

Their radios crackled to life and Reynolds' voice came through loud and clear. "SG-1, we have incoming."

The team stepped between the wide stone columns to see a glider zooming towards them, laying down fire causing the ground to shake. They ducked back under the relative safety of the temple's overhang. Sam ran to the other end in time to see the glider circle around for another round.

"Alright, let's go!" Jack ordered.

"Jack, we can't just leave," Daniel said, not moving from his position next to a column.

"Daniel."

"We must not allow this device to fall into the hands of Anubis," Teal'c reminded him.

"Fine," Jack said, agreeing with Teal'c. He pulled out a small package of C-4 that he always carried and attached it to the wall next to the device.

"Jack!" Daniel cried out in protest.

"Sir, he's right," Sam spoke up, turning to look at him. "If we destroy it, we lose our only chance to find the location of the Lost City."

"O'Neill," Teal'c said calmly.

Jack looked out and saw the glider coming in again. "Ah crap. Then what?" He asked, turning back to look at his team.

The blood in his veins ran cold as Daniel made a dash for the device and he quickly ran over to stop him. "No, no, no," he said pushing his friend hard against the column Daniel had been studying earlier.

"Someone has to do it. The answers are in there," Daniel said, pointing at the device. "If we don't find the Lost City we're as good as dead. Let me do it."

"And who does the translating when you go all Ancient?" Jack pointed out.

An Alkesh followed behind the glider releasing a stronger volley of fire. The team dropped as one to cover their heads as the sound assaulted their ears and the acrid smoke made their eyes water.

Jack knew that Daniel was right. The only way to retrieve the knowledge now and still make it back safely was for one of them to do it. The machine wouldn't recognize Teal'c, while Carter and Daniel would be needed later on. He was the only viable choice left.

His thoughts flickered to Buffy and their failed relationship. He really thought of her as his last chance for happiness and since she had left him he was alone again.

There was no way of knowing if they would contact the Asgard in time to remove the data, but it didn't matter. Earth needed saving again and he was more than willing to make the sacrifice. He would have Daniel tell Buffy that he did this freely and with no regrets.

He yanked the cap off his head and shoved it into Daniel's hands. "In fact, you're the one person who can do it." Then he jumped in front of the device before anyone could stop him.

It reached for him and he forced himself to remain still as it grabbed his head. In the background he could vaguely hear Daniel and Carter calling out to him, but the now white light blinded him and seared into his brain. Then he sank into the blissful darkness of unconsciousness.

As the world around him slowly returned, he had the vague sensation of being half-carried, half-drug somewhere. Then he was falling to the ground as thunder erupted around him. He felt someone roll him over onto his back and he opened his eyes to see Daniel looking worriedly down at him.

"Jack! Jack, are you okay?"

"What's going on?" He asked, a little disoriented.

Daniel looked over at Reynolds. "Come on. Let's get him up."

Jack's brain tried to interpret all of the input that was being thrown at him. Teal'c and Reynolds were half carrying him as blasts erupted around them. It didn't take long for him to be able to shrug them off and run on his own. He remembered allowing the Ancient device to download all of the Ancient knowledge into his head as he stepped through the gate.

"What happened?" Hammond asked them as they walked down the ramp.

"Didn't quite go according to plan, sir," he replied.

"We have to get him to the infirmary," Daniel said from behind him.

"I did it again," Jack said solemnly.

XXXXXXXXX

Jack didn't know how long he had blankly stared out the window to his backyard after his team and Hammond had left. As if his life couldn't get better, but merely go from bad to worse. Buffy leaving. His first mission back after his injury and he gets his head sucked. No hope for help from the Asgard. Now a change in leadership at the SGC and no off world missions while the program was put under a three-month review. His life currently sucked beyond all belief.

Wearily he got to his feet and began picking up the beer bottles scattered around his living room. He was on his way back from the kitchen to pick up another load when there was a knock at the door. Thinking someone had forgotten something; he opened the door without checking first.

His jaw dropped slightly as he recognized the battered figure before him. The shock stemming as much from their distressed appearance as the fact that they were there. "Buffy?" He choked out.

"Hey, you," she said hesitantly. "Umm, I'm sorry I'm here unexpectedly."

"No, no, it's fine," he said, shaking himself out of his shock. He was suddenly worried that maybe he'd had too many beers and she was just a hallucination. Perhaps even a strange, but enjoyable, side effect from the downloaded knowledge.

His sharp gaze took in the bruising on her face and the way she held herself. From the looks of it, he was guessing that she had a couple of cracked ribs. "What the hell happened to you?" He asked, stepping aside.

"Demon on patrol last night. I almost didn't make it. John showed up," she said, wincing as she entered the house. Her bag slid off of her shoulder and landed on the floor with a small thud.

"Have a seat and I'll get you a water, or a Diet Coke?"

"Water's fine, thanks."

Brown eyes watched her hesitantly enter the living room and look around before gingerly taking a seat on the sofa. He wasn't quite sure what brought Buffy back to his door, but it did make his day a little brighter.

Once he grabbed the bottle of water, he went back in to sit next to her, handing it off. "So you did go to Cleveland?" He asked as a way to start the conversation.

"Yeah. Faith said she answered the phone one day when you had called and that she told you to just give me some space. I'm sorry."

"Buffy, you don't –"

"No, Jack, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ran. I'm sorry that I hurt you for not telling you. I'm sorry for… for a lot of things."

"Hey, things went a little crazy. It's alright," he assured her. One hand reached out for her leg only to hesitate. She gave him a small smile and he completed the gesture. His thumb moved back and forth over the denim-clad thigh. "So are you back? Or are you just here to get the rest of your things?"

"I'm back, if you'll have me," she said in a small voice, not daring to look at him.

Jack's heart lurched. This was more than what he thought was ever possible. His hand moved from her leg to her chin, with a gentle prodding he tilted her head up so she would look at him. "Of course, I do."

"I'm ready to go back to work at the SGC once the doctor clears me," she hastily added, unshed tears shining in her eyes.

Jack let out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, about that."

"Oh, don't tell me Hammond put me down as AWOL or something."

"No, your team is still down until Dave replaces Wells, so he was waiting before doing anything official about your… leaving."

Her face lost all its color. "Did he – "

"He's alive," Jack said quickly, seeing where she was going with the question. "But he needs to relearn how to walk. He's off rotation until then or maybe even out of the program."

She gave him a watery smile before taking a sip of her water.

"But they've sort of shut down the SGC and Hammond is no longer in charge."

"What?" She asked in surprise.

"The new president stepped in and placed us under a three-month review. Put a civilian in charge – Dr. Elizabeth Weir. Daniel's impressed with her work."

"But why would he take it out of military hands?" Buffy asked, surprising herself with the question. She still had some reservations about the military, but everything she had seen and experienced at the SGC had been positive.

"Who knows? Guy's got Kinsey as his vice-president. God only knows what kind of bullshit that jackass has been feeding him."

Buffy tried to put a good spin on it. "So we don't go off-world for a few months. It'll give everyone some breathing space, chance to heal, Sam and Daniel can work on some of their backlogs, we can – "

"There's more," Jack interrupted.

"More? As in I'm not allowed back, or not on Dave's team? What?"

Jack stood and crossed the room to stand in front of one of the large windows. "While you were gone, something happened on my last mission. I let my head get sucked by one of those Ancient Repositories."

"What?" Buffy cried out, quickly rising to her feet, only to gasp out in pain.

He turned around and hurried over to her side. With gently and practiced hands, he eased he back onto the sofa. "I didn't have much of a choice, Buffy. We need to find the location of the Lost City, Anubis' fleet was already there raining down fire trying to get to the same knowledge, and out of my team I was the only acceptable loss."

"You are not an acceptable loss!"

"Out of the four, make that three cause the devices don't recognize Teal'c, I'm not the one who's needed later on to translate words and deeds when someone goes Ancient." He watched as reluctant understanding dawned on her feature before pressing on. "It gets worse."

"Worse? How could this get worse?"

"We can't reach Thor or any of the Asgard to remove this stuff from my head."

Tears welled up in Buffy's eyes again. "That means you're dying and we can't stop it."

"No, we can't," he said softly. One hand reached out to brush the tears off her cheeks. "I'm so glad you're here before things got worse and I wouldn't be able to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"I want you to know that I had planned on doing this earlier and not just because of what's happening now. I was going to tell you after your last mission but things went to hell and you disappeared. Thought my time had passed."

Buffy's stomach knotted as he spoke. She had never seen this look on his face before and it scared her. "Jack, just tell me," she pleaded, setting her bottle of water on the coffee table.

"I love you."

It seemed this afternoon was filled with one shock after another for her. Eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly. "You what?" She asked in a low tone.

"I love you," he repeated, softly but firmly. "I have for a long time."

With both hands she shoved him hard on the chest causing him to fall backwards onto the floor. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm just – "

"I know what you _think_ you're doing! This is completely unfair for you to be burdening me with this now," she said, rising to her feet despite the protest of her body.

"Burden? This shouldn't be a burden."

"Jack! You're dying! There's nothing we can do to stop it. What makes you think that _now_ is a good time for this?"

"Because I didn't want to die without you knowing the truth," he said, surging to his feet.

"Yeah? Well I could have lived with that," she snarled, turning and storming out the door.

"Damn it," Jack yelled. He picked up a beer bottle and threw it at the stone fireplace. Looking down at the broken shards he said, "This sucks."

XXXXXXXX

Dave laughed as he picked up his youngest son on his way to answer the door. Matthew was trying to insert his belief that he could answer the door on his own now. "Not quite big enough," Dave teased, throwing the boy over his shoulder so he hung upside down over his back.

His smile faded when he opened the door. "Summers," he said levelly.

"Daddy! Let me see!" Matthew cried, squirming in his father's arm as he tried to get a better look. When he finally up righted himself, he squealed in delight. "Buffy! Daddy, lemme down! Lemme down!"

Dave gently set the boy down. His feet no sooner hit the ground then he was making a beeline for Buffy. He wrapped his little arms around her legs.

"Hey, munchkin. I'd squat down to give you a hug, but I'm a little sore at the moment."

"It's okay," he said looking up at her. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too," she said, a genuine smile creeping across her tearstained face.

"Matthew, why don't you go inside? Summers and I need to talk."

"'Kay, daddy. I'll go tell mommy she's here," he said, giving Buffy another squeeze before leaving.

Dave stepped out onto the porch and shut the door behind him. "You've got a lot of nerve showing up like this."

"I know, Dave. I wanted to apolo-"

"Apologies aren't going to cut it this time. We were your team. Hell! We were more than that – friends. Damn near family. You walked out on us. I don't know what in the hell your problem was, only that you couldn't trust us with it. Which means you don't trust us."

Tears began streaming down Buffy's face anew. "I do trust you. There were things going on in my head – "

"That you could've talked to us about!" Dave pointed out. "Wells and Balinsky think they screwed up, but we both know who's at fault."

Buffy blanched. "You mean you know?" She choked out.

"That you ran because you were scared? That you didn't want to confront something? Hell yeah I noticed."

She sank to her knees. "I thought… thought you meant it was my fault Simon was hurt and that Janet was killed."

"Summers, what in the hell are you goin' on about?" Dave asked in total confusion.

"I messed up back there and that's why – "

"No such thing happened you crazy woman. Where did you come up with that idea?"

"Because it was," she cried. "I nearly got Jack killed."

Sharon opened the door and the two of them turned to look at her. "David James Dixon, get your sorry behind in this house now! How dare you yell at her?"

"This is work related."

"I get that, but the girl is in tears and she's hurting. I think she's had enough for now. You can talk to her later."

"Sharon – "

"David!" she said, her eyes hard and chin stubbornly thrust out.

For a moment it looked like he was going to push the issue, but he finally growled, "Yes, ma'am." He turned to Buffy. "We'll finish this later."

"Looking forward to it," she said meekly. Once he went into the house she turned to Sharon. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause any trouble. I'll just go."

"You'll do no such thing, sugah. You're gonna march yourself into my kitchen and have a seat. I told you I'd always be there to help, now come on."

The small woman bustled Buffy into the house and into the cheery kitchen. "Now you just sit down at the island while I fix you a cup of tea," Sharon said with a sympathetic smile before moving about her kitchen.

Buffy felt her nerves calm as she watched the simple domesticity of Sharon's actions. Though the woman was made of pure steel she had softened edges that reminded Buffy of her own mother. Before long, Sharon sat a cup of hot chamomile tea in front of her.

"Drink up. It'll help."

As Buffy took a sip, Sharon turned back to cleaning up the room. Once she had given Buffy some time to compose herself, she sat down on the other stool. "Don't let my David worry you with all that yellin'. Just means he likes you. Your runnin' off had him scared. Wanna tell me what happened?"

"_I_ was scared," she said with a small shrug, staring into her mug. "I screwed up and people got hurt – like Simon and Jack, or killed. I lost my sister less than a year ago and I couldn't face losing someone else that I… I couldn't lose Jack, too, and I didn't want to be there when it happened.

"Of course you didn't," Sharon said, patting Buffy's knee. "Nobody wants to watch their loved one die. But did you think it would hurt any less from afar? Not knowin'?"

"It wasn't any better," Buffy admitted.

"Is that why you came back?"

"Partially."

"And what about these new injuries?" Sharon tisked, carefully holding Buffy's chin to examine her face. "You weren't out lookin' for a fight were you?"

"Kind of, but still in the line of duty. Just a bit rougher than usual and made me rethink some things."

"Like you wanted to be back here with your man?" Sharon asked with a knowing smile.

"Yeah, but I think I've screwed that up, too."

Sharon sighed. "Oh sugah. You've got problems left and right, don't ya? Tell you what, you can stay here for as long as you need to straighten things out with Jack."

"No, I couldn't."

"Nonsense, won't be a problem. I'll just tell David where he can stick it," she whispered causing Buffy to let out a small laugh.


	30. Chapter TwentyNine

**A/N: **Just taking a moment to send out a huge massive thanks to Ava. She has been a wonderful and dear friend by checking over the more recent chapters and letting me know when I was straying off the path and gently pushing me to the finish line.

**A/N2:** Also, I know that Jessica Stein played Dr. Weir in the Lost City episode of SG-1, however, I'm going with the Torri Higginson version that everyone is more familiar with.

**Chapter Twenty-Nine **

Buffy gently held onto her ribs as she exited the infirmary. Sometimes she swore that the doctors caused more pain during the examination than the injury itself. Since the new doctor in charge was only temporary, she wasn't about to spill her secrets to him. She was going to keep it close to her chest until Janet's permanent replacement arrived and she was sure they could be trusted.

Of course, she hadn't told Dr. Weir yet either and wasn't sure she was going to. As far as she was concerned, Weir was only a temporary replacement as well. She didn't think the woman would last long in this facility. Especially since she had heard rumors about the woman's aversions to the military.

Buffy slowed down as she came upon Daniel. She hadn't had a chance to talk to the rest of SG-1 and was unsure about their reactions to her return. Her own team had vacillated between excitement of seeing her and disappointment about her running from them. Jack's own team was liable to be more distant considering how much she had hurt him.

"Daniel," she said with a wary smile.

"Ah, Buffy. Just the person I needed to talk to."

She blinked in surprise. "Me? Really? What for?"

"Let's not talk about it out here," he said before taking her loosely by the arm. As he led her through the halls he asked, "How are you feeling? Jack mentioned you were injured on patrol."

"I'm doing okay. The ribs, cuts and bruises are healing." She didn't mention that the healing was a little slower than normal. Not taking good care of herself for the past few weeks had left her tired most of the time which mean she didn't have the normal energy reserves for her normally quick healing.

"Good, good," he replied, the sincerity clear in his voice. He directed her through a door and they found themselves in Jack's rarely used office. Daniel gave her a reassuring smile. "He's currently in my office working on a crossword so we won't be disturbed."

"Okay," she said slowly. "What do you need?"

"_You_ need to talk to Jack. Soon," he said placing his hands on his hips.

Buffy didn't respond as she carefully lowered herself into one of the available chairs.

"He's hurting and he needs you. The Ancient knowledge is already starting to unfold. He's begun substituting Ancient words for English and he doesn't realize he's doing it." Daniel moved another chair closer to her and sat down.

Reaching out, he grasped both of her hands in his own. "If you don't talk to him soon, it will be too late. Either he won't be able to respond to you in English or he won't even be able to understand you. I know how hard it is losing someone you love and how scary the prospect of it happening again can be. I only knew Sha're for a year and if I knew what was going to happen, I would do it all over again. I loved her. Still do. She made me happy. _You_ make Jack happy and I know he does the same. He's only got a few days left, don't let them slip away."

"What if it's too late to tell him?" Buffy asked in a small voice.

"Not there yet. Don't let him keep thinking that you don't care," Daniel said gently before standing. "I've got to get back to work. Think about what I said."

Buffy sniffed softly as she watched him leave the room before reaching for the box of tissues sitting on the edge of the desk.

XXXXXXXXXX

Buffy was sitting alone in a corner of the cafeteria eating lunch when she saw Jack enter, followed closely by Daniel and Sam. Jack immediately headed over to the line and grabbed himself a cup of coffee and a bowl of Jello before picking out a table to sit at.

He laid down a folded piece of newspaper that he had been carrying and she could see it was the daily crossword. Daniel and Sam joined him shortly once they had grabbed their own meal. They exchanged worried glances over Jack's head as he studiously ignored them.

From her in plain sight hiding spot, Buffy watched him. He was stressed but was doing his best to hide it. She knew him well enough to recognize the signs. His shoulders seemed to sag slightly and his eyes were weary and resigned. While he was trying to continue his normal carefree attitude, his movements lacked their normal ease.

He looked a little lost as he turned his attention to Daniel to answer his question. The archaeologist kept referring to a book he had brought in.

Buffy hated knowing that she was a large part of why he was suffering. She had completely overreacted when he had opened his heart to her, because in truth it had scared her. She loved him so much and wasn't ready to face life without him.

The tiny blonde really needed to find a way to patch things up between them, but she had a feeling it was going to be difficult to catch a few minutes alone with him. Everyone was working hard trying to find the location of the Lost City in hopes of finding a weapon. After Bra'tac had arrived with news of an impending attack by Anubis' fleet everyone was feeling the pressure. The clock was rapidly ticking down and they couldn't see the path to the finish line.

It was unfair that Jack was now carrying the burden of saving Earth. It was her duty to protect them. Now here he was, performing her job. If she hadn't run, he may never have been placed in this position.

Daniel suddenly jumped to his feet, jabbering excitedly about something while Jack looked even more confused. However, he and Sam followed Daniel out of the commissary. It seemed that they may have found the location of the city. She hurried to finish eating. Like hell were they going without her.

XXXXXXXXXX

Buffy waited patiently outside of the door until she could hear a muffled 'come in'. Taking a quick breath to remind herself to not get too pushy, she opened the door to what used to be General Hammond's office. Boxes of files were piled up on nearly every surface and a woman with shoulder-length brown hair stood in the middle of it.

"Can I help you?" She wearily asked.

For a brief moment, Buffy felt sorry for her. It couldn't have been easy for her to step into Hammond's shoes under these circumstances. The woman had no experience dealing with a group of people who would never negotiate peace.

But Buffy refused to let it deter her from her self-appointed mission. She held out her hand. "I'm Buffy Summers. I'm a member of Colonel Dixon's team – SG-13."

"Dr. Elizabeth Weir," she said, returning the handshake with a small smile. Her hand was warm and firm. "Not to be rude, but is this just a general introduction or did you come to meet me for a specific reason."

"A little of both," Buffy admitted, not taking offense at the question. She was sure the woman had met a slew of people under different pretenses since she arrived. "I'm requesting to go with SG-1 on their search for the Lost City."

"I'm afraid I can't allow that."

"Why not?" Buffy asked, wanting to hear the reasons before pressing her case.

"The mission is dangerous enough without sending someone else with them and you're obviously injured," she said, looking pointedly at the yellowing bruises on Buffy's face. "The only reason I'm allowing SG-1 to go now is on the off chance they just might find something."

"My injuries aren't going to slow me down for long," Buffy assured her. She kept her posture relaxed and non-threatening. "I know you're new here so you're not familiar with all of the dynamics. Jack is a very old friend of mine. We've gone back years. He's the one who brought me into the program seven months ago. I don't feel right staying behind on this one. If this isn't successful he doesn't have a lot of time left. I don't want to lose him out there."

Elizabeth's eyes shone with sympathy. "But Miss Summers you are injured. I can't allow you out there in your condition. What if they encounter trouble?"

Buffy grinned. "We'll be spending most of our time on the cargo ship that Teal'c and Bra'tac found. Trust me, my injuries are not going to be a problem by the time we get to the planet."

"And why is that?" Weir asked.

She shrugged. "I'm a quick healer."

Dr. Weir raised an eyebrow in amusement. "A quick healer? That is what's supposed to convince me?"

Buffy let out a sigh. "If Dr. Fraiser was still here, she would clear me for the mission. She was a tough but caring woman who would have never cleared anyone if she believed they'd be a liability. She knew how quick I'd heal. Please. I need to be there for Jack."

XXXXXXXXXX

Buffy nervously paced the rear of the flight deck of the cargo ship. Joining SG-1 on this mission wasn't going as well as she had hoped. Because Jack didn't know about her coming until she had entered the gate room, he hadn't packed her a hazmat suit like he had for the others. If she had known that their destination was an inhabitable planet covered in lava flow, she would have brought her own.

Now she was forced to wait on the ship with Bra'tac and Ronan, the ship's Jaffa owner, while SG-1 searched the planet below for the much needed weapon. She only had their radioed reports to keep her apprised of what was happening.

She hadn't spent a lot of time with Bra'tac before this, but found him to be a stern, eccentric man who treated her with respect and she did her best to return in kind. The fact that Jack trusted him was always good enough for her.

It was Ronan who was making her feel uneasy, but before this she had never spent an extended amount of time with a Jaffa who still carried its symbiote. Teal'c and Bra'tac had their dependence on the larva removed before she had met them so while they registered as different her body's senses would relax. The immature Goa'uld living in Ronan's pouch was setting off her spidey-sense big time. Even knowing that he was part of the Jaffa resistance didn't help ease her mind.

During the day it took to reach the planet, she stayed as far away from him as possible while trying to achieve her other goal – talking to Jack. Which wasn't going well.

Intellectually she knew that the situation was just as hard for Jack's friends as it was for her, but she couldn't help but get upset every time they had their own private conversation with him. She had tried repeatedly to get Jack alone so she could apologize and let him know how much she loved him in return. But between Sam and Daniel cornering him and Jack fixing the engines so they'd go faster it just hadn't happened.

At least he had seemed pleased when Weir had informed him that she would be joining the mission. Hopefully that was a sign that she hadn't screwed things up beyond repair. But Jack was using more and more of the Ancient language rather than English and she knew her time was running out.

No matter what, once they returned from the planet she was cornering him in the cargo hold. Nothing was going to prevent it.

Sam's voice came through the internal speakers. "Bra'tac, we're on our way. We know the location of the lost city. It's on Earth."

"Understood, Major Carter," Bra'tac responded from his position in the pilot's seat. He twisted to look at Buffy.

"You pilot the ship there, I'll get the rings," she said. He nodded and turned back to the controls. She took the few steps needed towards the cargo hold when a sudden, searing pain ripped through her stomach. Hazel eyes looked up to see Ronan sneering down at her.

"You are betrayers of the one true god – Anubis," he uttered softly, jabbing his knife deeper into her stomach. "Your blood is the price."

Buffy dug deep into her well of anger to boost her strength. Her right hand whipped out and seized him by the throat. She forcibly shoved him against the wall and reached up on her toes to whisper in his ear, "You messed with the wrong human, Jaffa. I am a slayer and I bow to no one."

Ignoring the fire rippling out from her abdomen the muscles in her fingers contracted as she applied pressure to the soft tissue of his throat, cutting off his air. He relinquished his hold on the knife to claw at her hand. It was his final, fatal mistake.

Her left hand plunged through his armor and into his pouch to grasp the snake within. She yanked it out and crushed the infant Goa'uld in her hand. "I may die, but you're going with me," she snarled.

All of the previous injuries to her body that she was still healing from combined with the knife in her abdomen finally caught up to her. The bout of strength failed her then, allowing him to be successful in removing the hand closing his windpipe and shove her to the floor. A high pitched whine echoed in the cabin and Ronan's body was briefly blanketed by blue sparks. He fell unconscious to the floor and she looked to see Bra'tac still holding his zat.

"Hurry, the rings," she gasped, her vision swimming as she lay prone on the floor.

She could feel herself fading as she heard the transport rings activate. All she wanted was to see Jack one more time before she died so she tried her best to force her eyes to focus. However, when the light from the rings died, all she saw was an orange blur from the hazmat suits.

SG-1's voices sounded distant as they talked over themselves in an attempt to find out what had happened. Then Jack's horrified face came into sharp relief in front of her as he knelt down.

"Jack, I'm sorry about everything," she gasped. The blood pooling from her wound caused her shirt to stick to her skin as she fought to breathe.

The crease between his brows got deeper as his expression turned thoughtful. As she struggled to continue speaking, he placed on finger over her lips. Then his brown eyes drifted to the knife still lodged in her abdomen. His face a mask of concentration as his fingers wrapped around the handle and began to pull it out.

Sam reached out to stop him. "Sir, if you pull that out now we may not be able to save her at all. It could be -" she broke off as she took in his determined features.

He carefully slid the knife out and let it drop to the floor beside him. His cool hand touched her heated skin and his eyes drifted shut.

Buffy could feel something happening deep inside her causing her to scream out in pain as her organs and muscles began to rapidly knit themselves together. Her back arched up off the floor of the cargo hold as Jack continued to heal her. Then just as quickly, the pain was gone and she sagged back in relief.

Sam lifted up the sticky mess that was Buffy's shirt and her eyes widened in amazement. "Holy Hannah, it's gone. He healed her. How?"

"He has accessed the healing power of the Ancients," Teal'c said in awe.

"Guess his condition is a little more advanced this time," Daniel said softly, one hand reaching out to steady Jack as the older man swayed.

Buffy abruptly sat up to fling her arms around Jack's neck and he held her tightly. They clung desperately to each other.

Daniel looked over at Ronan's still form before turning back to the others. "Let's get him tied up and out of here. Then give them a few minutes alone," he suggested, rising to his feet.

"The traitor will not trouble us for long," Bra'tac said solemnly. "She has removed and killed his prim'tah. If he awakens, his death with be long and suffering."

"Good," Daniel said darkly as they slipped out of the room and shut the door.


	31. Chapter Thirty

**A/N: **So the end... sort of. There will be an epilogue that will be posted next Sunday. Also, this chapter originally contained smut. Following the guidelines of this site, it's been removed. However, if you are of age and wish to read it, visit TtH (link inside my profile).

**Chapter Thirty**

The sound of the doors sliding shut barely registered to Buffy's ears as she concentrated solely on the man holding her tightly in his arms. Her mind and soul shone with sudden clarity as to why Jack had revealed that he loved her when he did. No regrets. Not wanting to leave the world knowing you had unfinished business. At the time she wasn't ready to understand. The information that he was about to die was too raw on her nerves.

But now, before he had healed her, all she had wanted was to let him know the truth about her feelings. She wasn't going to let another opportunity pass her by.

Her heart leapt into her throat as she pulled back to look him in the eye. "I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you at your house that day. I was just so scared of losing you. I don't think I've fully healed from losing Dawn and suddenly you were telling me that you were dying."

Jack's eyes were sorrowful as he reached up to brush the tears off of her cheeks. He shook his head in an effort to argue with her, but the words in English wouldn't come to him.

"I love you," she said firmly, her voice never wavering. "I've loved you for so long. And no matter what happens, I'm not allowing another second to pass without you knowing the truth. You -"

He closed the distance between them to cover her lips with his own. The pressure was light but enough to reconnect them. His lips were slightly dry from the time spent in the hazmat suit, but they felt like a little piece of heaven to Buffy.

Her eyes, that she didn't remember closing, fluttered open as he broke the kiss. Pure joy twinkled in his own as he smiled at her. "Egoo dilligo vus, quoka," he whispered, his voice thick with emotion.

Despite it being in a foreign language, she understood the sentiment behind them. The unfamiliar words tumbled easily from his lips as if he had always spoken them causing her breath to catch and her heart to swell.

She slanted her mouth over his with more pressure than before and he leaned back to compensate for the sudden weight shift. His lips parted beneath hers and her tongue swooped in to explore the hot cavern of his mouth. Her tongue gently rolled over his own, flicking up to caress the roof of his mouth before pulling back. He tugged her body close to his own as his tongue followed hers.

XXXXXXXX

Buffy frowned at the wires she was twisting together. This was not her forte, but like hell was she going to let Jack out of her sight anytime in the foreseeable future. So when he had started working on the rings she had offered to help. He had mimed every instruction since he had lost the ability to speak English. Even now he rarely spoke at all. She only hoped he knew what he was doing because this was all beyond her.

She tugged absently at Jack's t-shirt that she now wore. Hers was destroyed and the other shirt she had brought was already dirty. Jack had gallantly offered his and now wore his last button down green shirt. It may have seemed silly to others, but wearing the shirt holding his scent comforted her and reminded her that she hadn't screwed things up between them.

Footsteps drawing close caused her to look up to see Teal'c approaching Jack. He had been the only one who hadn't found time earlier to have a private conversation with his friend. Really, she knew she should give them some privacy, but she also knew every second counted with getting the rings ready for whatever Jack had in mind.

"O'Neill, are you preparing a weapon for battle?" Teal'c softly asked.

Jack shook his head and continued fusing circuits. For a moment she was distracted by how attractive he was working with his hands.

"Sensors have detected an armada of Goa'uld mother ships around Earth." Teal'c's usually unexpressive face grew concerned as Jack continued on with his work. "Can you even understand what I am saying?"

Buffy surreptitiously watched them from the other side of the room. Jack was still able to understand English, but his priority now was saving Earth. The only one around them who understood Ancient was Daniel and he was on the flight deck. Jack had long since stopped talking when he wasn't around.

"O'Neill, I wish for you to know -"

Jack cut him off by turning to look at him and briefly placed a hand on his cheek before moving it to his shoulder. His eyes conveyed that he already knew and nothing needed to be said. Teal'c inclined his head in understanding before rising and leaving Jack to his work pausing only long enough to nod to Buffy before exiting the cargo hold.

A few minutes later, Sam entered and quietly studied Jack's handiwork. Her eyes lit up with sudden understanding. "You're modifying the matter stream transmitter of the rings. Is this how you're planning on breaking through the ice in Antarctica to reach Atlantis?"

Jack ignored her as he moved to another section of the rings.

"Sir?"

"It's useless, Sam," Buffy spoke up. "He's only speaking Ancient now."

Sam tilted her head and looked inquireingly at her. "Then how do you know what to do to help?" She asked, indication the wires Buffy was working on.

"He showed me," she said with a shrug. "There was a lot of pointing, demonstrating, and frustrated sighs. This was the only thing he'd let me do, and personally I think it's really just busy work and has nothing to do with the rings. Your help he could probably use," she hinted.

She fully understood that standing idly by while others worked was not one of Sam's traits and grinned to herself as she watched Sam try to talk Jack into letting her help.

XXXXXXXX

Buffy braced herself against the wall of the flight deck as the ship rocked while Teal'c did his best to decelerate quickly. It had been a risky move on their part, exiting out of hyperspace so close to the Earth, but it was the safest way to get passed Anubis's fleet in one piece. She eased the tension out of her muscles as the ship leveled off.

"Where now?" Teal'c asked as they flew over the icy wasteland of Antarctica.

"It has to be near the coordinates where we found the second stargate," Daniel mused looking out the window.

Jack entered from the cargo hold and jogged over to Teal'c. He patted his shoulder a couple of times and Teal'c vacated the pilot's seat so he could sit down.

Buffy had never had the opportunity to watch Jack fly before. She knew that the man she loved had joined the Air Force for the specific purpose of flying. Even now with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, he seemed almost at ease in the chair as he skillfully piloted the cargo ship to their unknown destination.

He positioned the ship in a low hover over the surface before jumping up and running back to the cargo hold. He pressed several buttons on the control panel for the rings, and the ship shuddered as it began emitting a beam towards the surface.

"Sir, how long is this going to take?" Carter asked as she watched steam rise up from below. Jack didn't reply.

"Anubis could not have missed our arrival," Teal'c said as Bra'tac sat down in the pilot's chair.

"You are correct," Bra'tac said, checking the displays. "Al'kesh and gliders approach. They will be in firing range in thirty seconds."

Buffy could feel her stomach twisting into knots. Getting into a firefight while aboard a ship was not something she was familiar with. Especially on a ship that didn't carry any weapons. So much for her being perfectly safe on this mission.

"More ships approaching from the opposite direction," Bra'tac called out.

Sam turned to the cargo hold. "Sir, we're about to get our a-"

"They are not Goa'uld," Bra'tac interrupted her with a grin.

Buffy ran forward with Sam to look out the window to see a large ship take position above them and a swarm of smaller ships swooping in to attack.

"It's Prometheus," Sam explained, turning to grin at her.

A familiar voice came through the comm. "SG-1, this is Hammond on the Prometheus. Do you read?"

"Yes, sir. It's good to see you," Sam replied.

Buffy turned to check on Jack and saw him in the cargo hold clearing off the transport rings and undoing whatever he had done to it. "I'd say it's almost time to go." She and the rest of SG-1 went into the hold to gear up.

"How are we getting down there?" Buffy asked, snapping on her vest before reaching for one of the new guns that Sam and her father had designed a few months ago. It was a safe bet that Anubis was going to send his super warriors after them and these were the only thing that could stop them.

"The rings," Teal'c said calmly as Jack moved the last piece of equipment.

"Makes sense," Daniel replied with a nod. "The Ancients built the stargates so there must be a set of rings down there somewhere."

"I guess the transmission beam just couldn't penetrate a mile of ice," Sam theorized.

"Hence Jack's modifications," Buffy finished in sudden understanding.

Jack stepped into the center of the rings to join them without a vest or weapon. Before Buffy could comment on it, the rings activated and they found themselves under the surface of ice.

They switched their flashlights on and flicked them around the dark structure. The shafts of light did little to penetrate the shadows but Jack moved easily forward.

"This looks vaguely familiar," Sam said dryly. Buffy looked over at her in confusion and the Major clarified, "The outpost on the planet was laid out like this."

"Ah," Buffy said with a nod before returning to her study of the structure.

Jack led them over to an upright capsule. He reached out to touch it and said, "Dolmata."

"Sleep," Daniel translated for them.

A high pitched ringing noise assaulted their ears and they moved to investigate. They entered another chamber to find Anubis waiting in front of a slightly raised dais with a chair on it. All but Buffy raised their weapons, instead she shifted her posture so she'd be ready to move at a moments notice.

"You are too late," Anubis' voice echoed hollowly. "The power of the Ancients is mine."

Jack tilted his head slightly and took several easy steps forward to reach the figure. He paused to consider Anubis for a moment and then walked right through him causing the hologram to disappear. The team lowered their weapons once they realized there was no threat.

Still calm, but serious, he went to one side of the dais and knelt down. He waved his hand over the surface and a dark oblong object rose up. Sam stepped forward and took the bag she brought off of her shoulder. From it she pulled out a similar object only this one glowed faintly with a greenish-yellow light.

"Power supply," she explained to Buffy as Jack traded them out. "Somehow he knew this one was depleted and that we'd have to retrieve a new one."

The sound of the rings being activated in the other chamber could be heard and they moved to the doorway to see two of Anubis's super soldiers appear. Buffy gave Sam a slight push. "Go, I'll stay here with Jack in case they get through."

Sam nodded and pulled out her weapon and went to return fire. SG-1 took up defensive positions and prepared to buy Jack the time he needed.

By the time Buffy turned back around, Jack had taken a seat in the large metal chair. The entire dais was suddenly illuminated with a pale blue light from underneath. He rested his hands at the end of the arms and it reclined on its own. Jack's eyes slid shut and his fingers manipulated what looked like a gel pad as a white light shone down on him from above.

The ground shook and cracked in the other chamber as SG-1 finished dispatching the last of the super soldiers. Buffy rushed to the doorway to see the floor cave in on one side of the room and a light began shining from it. Squid like figures flew up from the floor and the up the hole they had dug to use to the rings. They glowed yellow and there seemed to be an endless stream of them as SG-1 watched them fly past.

Eventually they stopped coming and Buffy turned back to Jack. He was still illuminated and his face was screwed up in concentration. Buffy could only guess that he was controlling whatever those things were and hopefully destroying Anubis's fleet. Otherwise this would have all been for nothing and Jack's sacrifice would have been in vain. Behind her the team returned to the chamber, but they kept a wary eye on the rings.

Her eyes never left Jack's face so she was the first to notice when the light died and his head lolled to the side. She ran to him and placed a hand on his cheek. "Hey, you. I think you did it." When he didn't respond she gently patted his cheek to get his attention. "Jack? Come on, Jack. Don't leave me now."

He wearily opened his eyes and his mouth moved several times before sound successfully came out. "Dolmata," he whispered.

"That thing," Daniel spoke up, referring to the capsule Jack had pointed out when they had first arrived.

"But what does it do?" Buffy tearfully asked, her gaze never leaving Jack.

"I don't know, but I'm positive he pointed it out for a reason."

Teal'c came up to stand next to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Buffy Summers, it may be his only chance."

She nodded and placed a soft kiss on Jack's lips before stepping back so that the large man could pick Jack up in his arms. He carried him over to the capsule and stood him up inside of it. The technology lit up once Teal'c stepped out.

"Now what?" Sam asked as Buffy moved to stand in front of Jack as they stayed behind her.

"Aveo amacus," Jack said softly.

"Goodbye," Daniel translated.

Jack's eyes dropped to Buffy. "Egoo dilligo vus." Then the capsule filled with what looked like ice. He was frozen in place, still gazing down at her.

"I love you," Daniel nearly whispered.

Buffy rested her head against the cool, flat surface and whispered, "I love you, too."

"We can't just leave him here like this," Sam said, her voice choked with emotion. "There has to be someway to reverse the process. The answer has to be here somewhere."

"I don't think this is it, Sam," Daniel said sadly.

"What do you mean?"

"The place is too small. It's like Taonas. It's obviously not a city, just an outpost of some kind."

"This isn't Atlantis?"

"I don't think so."

"If this is not the Lost City then where is it?" Teal'c asked.

Daniel didn't answer as he watched Buffy slide to the ground leaning against the capsule. Her shoulders shook with her soft sobs and he only hoped that Jack's sacrifice was worth it.


End file.
